Go Ninja
by AntiHero627
Summary: After defeating the Kraang, the Triceritons, the Foot Clan, and the Shredder, the Turtles, April,and Karai have no more enemies that can challenge them. Their world is at peace, but there's another world tha's not. The Sage of Six Paths has offered to help the NY ninjas excel in their ninja skills in exchange for helping save his world from the darkness created by his last decision
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey there, AntiHero here! This is a Fanfic idea that I came up with after watching TMNT 2012 to the end and let me just say that it was unsatisfactory to me. I mean seriously, Mutant Apocalypse, a future where everyone aside from the Turtles is dead because some idiot unleashed a Mutagen Bomb, and they didn't even tell us who that idiot was! Plus the last episodes about Bebop and Rocksteady weren't the best of the episodes, and there are no more enemies for the Turtles and their allies to fight anymore. So I thought, too bad they can't advance in their ninja training like the ninjas in Naruto could, but then it hit me: what if they could? And thus, the Go Ninja Fanfic was born! I won't explain much yet, but basically, this is after the series is over and the Turtles, April, and Karai want to take their ninja skills up a notch, and one only person can help them…**

 **Disclaimer – I do not own TMNT or Naruto**

 **Chapter 1 – The Calling**

( **Cue After The Blackout by the Fold** )

…

Nighttime in New York, the city was pretty peaceful; no weird brain aliens trying to mutate the planet, no crazy Dino freaks trying to destroy the earth, and no Shredder or Foot Clan trying to conquer the city. Just a dull town full of ordinary people and good mutants coexisting, which was precisely the problem. High above the citizens' heads, four Ninja Turtles and one psychic kunoichi were scaling the rooftops like child's play. After a few minutes of patrolling together, the five ninjas split up to search their beloved city. The leader in blue made it all the way to the chemical factory in Chinatown before he picked up his T–Phone. "How's it going, team? Any sign of trouble?" he asked hopefully.

The brute of the team had made it to the movie theater when his phone rang. He answered his T-Phone and replied, "Nah, just a few punks who weren't worth my time." He stood in the center of 6 unconscious thugs. "How about you, Donnie?"

The brains of the team was at TCRI. "Nope, nothing going on here. I guess without the Kraang, TCRI is just a boring, peaceful, company. How are things on your end, April?" His question was answered with various noises of fighting. "April?!"

The psychic ninja punched a muscular man in the face before kicking a man with sunglasses. Four men lay flat on the ground in pain as April fanned herself with her tessen. "Sorry D, just had a little run-in with the Purple Dragons; other than that, nothing," she answered.

"What?! You got to beat up those lame wads instead of me?! No fair!" Raph groaned. "Hey Mikey, how are things with you?"

The team goofball sat on top of Antonio's Pizza Pallor, munching on a pepperoni pizza. "Nah Bros, I got nothing but pizza going my way," he said, which made his comrades roll their eyes.

"MIKEY!" they shouted.

"Sorry guys, but I got hungry just patrolling an empty city where nothing happens," Mikey defended himself.

"I hate to say it, but Mikey's right," Donnie agreed. "Ever since we defeated the Foot Clan, the Kraang, and the Triceratons, there are just no more threats to the city or the planet."

"I guess peace can get pretty boring after a while," April mused.

Just then, Leo got a message from the leader of the new Foot Clan; he quickly checked his message before telling the others. "Text from Karai: 'Nothing strange going on. Feels like my plan to redeem the Foot Clan is pointless. Talk later.' Well, I guess we can call it a night. How about we all head to Mr. Murokami's place for some pizza pot stickers?" Leo suggested.

"Sounds good to me," April decided.

"Sure," Donnie agreed.

"Cool," Raph said.

"Alright! Gyoza for the win!" Mikey cheered.

The head of the Hamato Clan hung up his phone and put it away; he then felt something trying to peer into his mind, like it was trying to speak to him. Kinda like April or Rockwell's telepathy, but different. _"I seek the assistant of all ninjas."_ Leonardo looked around to see if anyone was nearby but saw no one. _"Accept my offer, and your skills as a ninja will exceed their current limitations."_ Leo's first instinct was to ignore this strange message, but he couldn't deny that his curiosity wasn't piqued; who could possibly be calling for his help, and how can his Ninja skills be improved? "Sensei. Is that you?" Leo asked the air. _"I am not your fallen Master, but I can teach you new skills that you've never even dreamed a ninja could possess. All you have to do is come and find me,"_ the voice instructed. Leo closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about what he should do; his eyes then opened and he began scaling rooftops toward the source of the voice.

The oldest ninja turtle appeared in front of the gate of Coney Island, but before he could go in, someone landed behind him. He instinctively brought his sword and swung at the person, who blocked the attack. Getting a good look at the person, Leo could see that it was none other than a Kunoichi with black hair, wearing a black mask guard over her mouth. "Karai? What are you doing here?" he inquired as he withdrew his blade.

"I heard a voice telling me to come here to find them," she explained.

"So did I," Leo said.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones to get the message," said a voice from the gate. Leo and Karai turned and spotted the three other ninja turtles and the Kraang/Human hybrid approaching them. "So, it called you here, too?" Raph questioned.

"Who is it?" Leo wondered.

"We don't know," Donnie answered. "We all just got a telepathic message asking for help and promising to improve our ninja skills if we came here."

"Do you think it can be a trap from some of our surviving adversaries? Maybe it's Tigerclaw," Karai pondered.

"Nah, last time we saw him, he declared a truce and left the city," Raph shot down that suggestion. "That was months ago."

"What about Baxter Stockman? He was still pretty mad at us for turning him back into a human," Leo commented.

"Can't be, Stockman's been recruited by Bishop and the Earth Protection Force," Donnie said. "Now he works at TCRI as its CEO and helps develop weapons with the Utrons."

"Maybe…it's the Pepperoni Demon come to take revenge on us by turning into the world's first mutant pizza!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Or not." Leo deadpanned.

April suddenly grasped her forehead and groaned. "Ugh, guys, I'm sensing something. Someone's watching us," she said. She then looked up, and her comrades did the same. The six of them were shocked at what they saw; in the sky was a man or what looked to be a man in a white robe, holding a staff with two different heads, sitting cross-legged like he was meditating. The man had pale skin, deep wrinkles, pale brown hair, a long goatee that went down to his waist, and a pair of horns sticking out of his head, but the most distinguishing feature he had was the third eye that rested on his forehead. "Whoa, who is that?" April questioned, though none of her comrades could answer as they were just as surprised as she was. The strange man slowly started to descend toward the ground until he floated right in front of the ninjas while still keeping his eyes closed.

"Wow, he's seriously floating!" Donnie observed.

"That's what you noticed about this guy?!" Raph shouted. "Not the fact that he's got pale skin?!"

"Pale skin?! Do you not see the horns sticking out of his head?!" Karai questioned.

"Does no one see the third eye he's got?!" Leo asked.

"What about that goatee?! It's even longer than Splinter's!" Mikey noted.

"Is this guy a mutant?" Leo wondered.

"He looks pretty human to me," Donnie said.

"What human do you know has pale skin, horns, and a third eye?!" Raph exclaimed. "He's gotta be an alien!"

"He doesn't feel like an alien, at least not fully," April responded.

"What do you mean by that, O'Neil?" Karai asked.

"His presence feels ghostly, kinda like Ho Chan, but much greater than that," April explained. "He also feels different from us: almost alien, but human too."

"That's because I am an alien," the man answered. The Ninjas all stared at him in surprise at what he admitted. "Half alien to be precise, as well as half human."

"Are you the one who called us here?" Leo inquired.

The man nodded. "Indeed, my message was to the best ninjas in this place. I assume that the six of you are the best ninjas."

"Well, with Splinter, Tatsu, and the Shredder gone, I guess we are the best ninjas now," Karai mused.

"We're totally the best ninjas, Alien dude!" Mikey agreed.

"So, you said that you could help us improve our ninja skills," April reminded him. "Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," the man answered.

"Sorry, but we don't really believe you," Donnie said dubiously.

"Then allow me to prove it. I would like to see how well you all have trained as ninjas," the man said. All of his eyes then opened as he stood on his feet; he twirled his staff around before pointing it at the New York ninjas. "Come at me with everything you've got, or else you won't stand even the slightest chance against me," he instructed them.

"Ha! Listen, old timer, you don't know who you're challenging," Raph warned as he brought out his Sais. "But I'd be happy to show you if that's what you want!"

"Raph, wait!" Leo called out, but his command fell on deaf ears as his brother charged at the alien hybrid. Raph twirled his sais as he tried to strike the old man, but the alien easily dodged his strikes before knocking his weapons out of his hands and palm striking the turtle aside. "Raph!" Leo cried as his brother bounced across the ground. The second to attack was Splinter's daughter; she swung her sword at the old man numerous times, but he blocked her slashes before using his staff to swipe her off her feet and jab her stomach. "Ninjas, attack!" Leo ordered, and the leader and his comrades charged at the old ninja. Donnie got to him first and tried to stab him with the blade from his bo staff, but the alien deflected his assault before using the sun-shaped end of his staff to grab Donnie's weapon and swing him over his head. Mikey and April tossed multiple shurikens and kunai at their opponent, but he spun his staff rapidly, deflecting all of them. "Booyakasha!" Mikey cried as he rushed at the alien with his nunchucks ready; the goofball swung his chains at the man's pole, yet each time, the attacks were blocked. Mikey then extended his chain, tossing his bladed nunchucks at the alien, but to his surprise, the old ninja caught the chain and pulled on it, bringing Mikey closer to him before slamming him into Donatello. April attempted to strike the alien with her tessen, but he blocked her attack. She then tossed her razor fan at him, yet he merely sidestepped it. The psychic kunoichi smirked as her weapon swerved through the air and headed back toward her target, believing he was unaware of its return. To her amazement, the alien grabbed her fan a second before it could strike the back of his head and tossed it at her; it hit her in the face and knocked her down.

"Hyah!" Leo shouted as he brought out one of his katanas. The Hamato leader swung his sword at the old man, who dodged all of his strikes flawlessly. _"How is he doing this?"_ Leo wondered while continuing his assault. Then the turtle noticed the third eye on the man's forehead moving from side to side before he was struck in the chest by the man's staff and kicked away. Karai and April got back up and charged at the alien hybrid at the same time; using their blades to attack, both girls swung at the old ninja with all their might, but he quickly avoided all of their blows. Leo noticed once again that the alien's third eye was moving in sync with the two humans. The alien countered by knocking April away with his weapon before jabbing Karai in the neck, knocking her out. _"Is his third eye somehow reading our movements?"_ Leo thought as his brothers attacked the alien hybrid again. Raph jabbed at the old man with his Sais numerous times, yet each time his attack was blocked. The alien raised his staff to strike back, but Mikey quickly wrapped his chain around the man's weapon, preventing him from lowering it on his brother. However, the alien still brought down his staff, dragging Mikey with him and slamming him into Raphael.

Donnie jumped over the alien's head and tried to whack him with his stick, but the oppressor blocked the attack, and the two were engaged in a bo staff battle. It ended with Donnie trying to jab the alien but missing, allowing him to grab the turtle's staff and jab him in the head with it four times before kicking him away.

Leo got back on his feet and pulled out a smoke bomb. "I know your trick!" Leo announced to the alien. "That third eye you've got allows you to read and anticipate our movements. With each attack we make, you can somehow predict our next move and react before it happens! But let's see you do that when you can't see your opponent!" He then threw the smoke bomb at the Alien; the old ninja deflected it with his staff, causing to explode and release a cloud of purple smoke that blinded him. Leo suddenly appeared behind him and thrusted his blade forward. _"Gotcha!"_ he thought, but the alien dodged the attack despite not being able to see his opponent. "How?" Leo asked before he was kicked in the face and out of the smoke cloud.

The Alien stepped out of the smoke and nine small black orbs suddenly appeared behind him. His staff then shrunk down until it formed a tenth sphere and returned to his back. Two of the balls flew into his hands and took the shape of black katanas. The alien hybrid pointed one of his blades at the turtle swordsman, Leo brought out his second sword, and the two were soon engaged in a sword fight. Leo swung as hard as he could, but the old ninja blocked all his strikes easily before jabbing him with the hilt of his sword. Leo skid across the ground before Raphael caught him. "Thanks, Raph," he thanked his brother.

"No problem, brother," Raph replied. The two were joined by their fellow Ninjas, including a now-conscious Karai.

"Oh man, this dude kinda remains me of when we fought Pugtaro after he got his powers," Mikey said.

"More like Jei, but without the evil," Leo corrected.

"Who's Jei?" April asked.

"Who's Pugtaro?" Karai added.

"We'll tell you later," Donnie answered before asking his brother, "Leo, do you have a plan to beat this guy?"

Leonardo thought for a moment before answering, "Let's all try attacking at once. He shouldn't be able to take us all on."

The six Ninjas of New York surrounded the alien hybrid in a small circle; they all jumped at the same time, but before they could reach him, their bodies suddenly stopped moving and became suspended in the air. "What the heck is this?" Raph questioned.

"Feels like this alien is releasing some sort of magnetic pulse that affects us rather than metal, preventing us from engaging in his proximity," Donnie replied.

"Right, I totally get what that means," Raph said sarcastically. Before anyone could say anymore, the Alien mumbled, **"Almighty Push!"** The six ninjas were then blown away by an invisible force. "Ugh, what the heck was that?!" Raph asked again.

"He somehow turned the magnetic repulse into a magnetic repel," Donnie answered.

"Uh, he what?" Mikey inquired.

"He blew us all away," Donnie explained simply.

"Oh, got it," Mikey said.

"Let's just stop talking and take him down already!" Raph exclaimed as he charged at the alien again. The old ninja reacted by tossing his blades into the air and using his hands to weave signs. **"Fire-Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"** The old ninja placed his hand by his mouth and blew out multiple fireballs; they crashed into the ground in front of Raph, blasting him backward. April was the next to advance on the alien hybrid, and just like with Raph, he used his hands to weave signs, except these were different from the ones before. **"Water-Style: Raging Wave!"** The alien spit out a massive torrent that washed the other female hybrid away. Donnie brought his staff forward and charged at the alien; once again he weaved hand signs for another attack. **"Wind-Style: Giant Breach!"** The brains of the team was suddenly blown into his love interest by a strong force of wind. Mikey tried to hit the weaver before he could perform another attack, but he effortlessly dodged all of the turtle's strikes while still weaving signs. **"Earth-Style: Rising Soil!"** the alien cried as he placed his hand on the ground; a large chunk of the earth shot upward and nailed Mikey in the chin. "Mikey!" Leo yelled before he and Karai rushed at the old ninja. Just like before, he dodged their attacks while making hand signs for another technique. **"Lightning-Style: False Darkness!"** He held out his hands, releasing two bolts of lightning that struck the clan leaders; Leo and Karai were electrocuted, but not fatally.

"That's it! No more holding back!" April stated as she rolled up her sleeves; she extended her hands toward the alien as she attempted to use her telekinesis on him, but he merely looked at her before walking her way as if her powers weren't affecting him, which they weren't. "Why… aren't… my powers… working on you?!" she questioned.

"Because I am not from this dimension, child," the Alien answered. "Your powers won't work on me."

"Then how about this?!" Karai shouted as she changed into her form into a mix of her human and snake traits. Her hands shifted into snakeheads, her skin turned scaly while, her teeth grew two fangs, and her eyes became jade green with blacks slits. The serpent ninja jumped to attack the alien from behind, but he quickly dodged her. Karai continued to attack him with her striking snakes, but he evaded every blow before palm striking her away. He then turned around to see Leonardo on his feet and putting his hands together. **"Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen."** With each word Leo spoke, he made different hand signs. _"Interesting, it looks like he's performing a jutsu,"_ the old Ninja observed. Leo's hands suddenly started glowing; he placed his hands on his chest, and the light spread throughout his whole body. He then charged at the alien with his hands still glowing. Leo made many attempts to strike the alien with his Healing Hands technique, but his target evaded him swiftly before kicking him back.

Leo quickly recovered and brought his blades again; he swung wildly at the alien hybrid, who blocked all of his slashes. He then pushed the turtle away, but Leo quickly backflipped onto a wall and pushed himself back at the old ninja. Catching the alien by surprise, Leo swung both his swords at him, cutting his body in half. His friends had surprised looks as Leo turned around and saw the two halves of the alien suddenly turn into pieces of wood. "No way! That's impossible!" Leo shouted. He didn't have the time to figure it out as he was suddenly knocked onto his shell with the old ninja's blade at his throat. "Leo!" his comrades cried as they rushed to help him, only to stop when the Alien withdrew his swords and said, "Your skills as ninjas are most impressive." His swords then changed black into the small black orbs they once were. "I apologize for being rough with you, but I wanted to see how good your skills as ninjas are. You're definitely excellent warriors."

"Thank you, but it's clear your skills far surpass ours," Leo admitted as his friends appeared by his side.

"So, who are you anyway?" Karai questioned.

"My name is Hagoromo Õtsutsuki, but I am mostly known as the Sage of Six Paths or the God of all Shinobi," the old ninja introduced himself.

Leo, Raph, Donnie, April, and Karai stared at Hagoromo with wide eyes while Mikey just looked unimpressed. "Why couldn't you be the god of pizza?" he inquired, earning a slap from Raphael. Leonardo stepped forward and said, "Forgive my brother's rudeness; it is an honor to be in your presence Lord Hagoromo." The Hamato Leader bowed to the Ninja God and his comrades followed his lead, though Mikey had to be forced by Raph.

"It's quite alright," Hagoromo assured as he sat on the air again. "Even though I'm referred to as a God, I'm actually just as mortal as the rest of you. It's just due to the fact that I'm the one who brought the way of the ninja to the world."

"Um, Hagoromo-san, if you don't mind me asking, what does the God of all Ninjas want with us?" April inquired.

Hagoromo closed his eyes as he entered a thought before answering, "I come from a world where the existence of ninjas is greater than this one's," he began. "There are so many fighters with abilities similar to mine that they have formed villages all over the world."

"Sounds like our kind of place!" Mikey stated.

"Like your Sensei, I was also the head of my clan, and had tried to lead the world to peace through my beliefs and teachings," the Sage continued. "When the time of my passing came, I had decided to choose a successor who would continue my work. I had chosen my younger son, Ashura, who had learned that love was the key to peace, rather than my older son, Indra, who believed strength was the key to peace, and it was that descision that seems to have plunged the world into darkness."

"What do you mean?" Leo argued. "If your younger son believed that love was needed for peace, then doesn't that mean you made the right choice?"

"You are correct, Leonardo," Hagoromo said. "Although I do not regret the decision I made, I feel great anguish from the results of my decision."

"Why?" Leo asked.

"After my choice was made and I passed my powers onto Ashura, I had hoped Indra would accept him as my successor and aid him as brothers should, and advised Ashura to reach out to him." Hagoromo's face turned sad as he looked away from the New York Ninjas. "But Indra became consumed by jealousy and refused to accept my decision. His jealousy turned to hate and he was consumed by darkness. He even killed the few people who supported him for more power, believing that he did not need the strength of others to bring peace. Indra declared war on his own brother, attempting to become my successor by force; although he was powerful, the bonds Ashura had with our people gave him the strength to win the fight, yet even then, Indra still refused to accept Ashura or my teachings."

"Wow, this story's strangely similar to our master's story," Donnie commented. "Tang Shen choosing Splinter rather than Shredder, Shredder refusing to accept her descision, and his hatred leading to the reignition of the feud between the Hamato Clan and the Foot Clan."

"Yeah, but the feud ended after Shredder killed Splinter and Leo killed Shredder," Raph said. "Since Ashura won, I'm guessing this feud didn't end there."

The Ninja God nodded. "Years later, after Indra had established his own sect that idolized ninjutsu as power, he came to see me the night before my death. He stated that I feared true power, using love and bonds as a shield, and said until he destroys Ashura and his followers, their fight will never end. Even if he died, he promised to be reincarnated in order to continue his goal. Even though Ashura tried to assure me that my teachings of ninshu would spread throughout the world rather than be wasted, and that his soul would reincarnate as long as Indra's did, I still can't help but feel responsible for my world's condition. My creations have been used for weapons of war and power rather than keys of peace, my teachings have been misinterpeted, and the clans of my descendants have spent so long fighting and killing each other and their kin in order to continue the war between Indra and Ashura." The Sage only seemed to grow more depressed as he spoke. "For so many years, hate has only seemed to spread throughout the world, outweighing the little love that exists, and my sons grow more and more distant in their paths, refusing to make peace with each other and darkening the world even more, all because of the descision I made."

"That's not true!" April argued, getting everyone's attention. "You believed love was the key to peace and chose the son who shared your views. That was the right decision; it's how others accepted it that was wrong!"

"April's right! Indra should have accepted your descision and helped his younger bring peace like you desired; it was him who made the wrong descision, not you, Hagoromo-san!" Karai spoke up. The turtles nodded in agreement.

"Master Splinter once told me, we can never move forward to the future if we keep thinking about what changes we could've made in the past," Leo said. "Indra kept thinking that you should've chosen him as the successor and never thought about how to help his brother bring peace to your world as his partner rather than his leader."

"Just like how it would've been wrong for Splinter make Raph the leader, it would've been wrong for you to choose your eldest son to lead the world to peace," Mikey added.

"Yeah... hey!" Raph shouted before he tackled his younger brother.

Hagoromo smiled from the team's comforting words. "Thank you, young ninjas. I am glad I spoke with you, and now I am sure that I was right in choosing you."

This caught everyone's attention, including Raph and Mikey, who stopped wrestling and looked at the Sage in confusion. Their fellow ninjas were no different. "Uh, choosing us for what exactly?" Donatello inquired.

"I came to this world hoping to find a group of ninjas who would be worthy of becoming my disciples," Hagoromo answered. "After watching my world corrupt for so many years, I thought my choice in choosing Ashura was surely a mistake, but I see that even in different dimensions, my ideals for peace are still valued and there are some who support my decision. This is one of the reasons why I chose you six to become my pupils."

"Wait, become your pupils? Does that mean you'll teach us how to use those sweet ninjutsu moves?!" Mikey asked.

Hagoromo nodded. "Yes turtle, I will give you the ability to manipulate chakra just like my people in order to perform jutsu. But you must learn these skills on your own. You'll have to take the same lessons my people do, become one of them, and learn their ways if you wish to improve your ninja skill," he instructed.

"Sign me up, bra!" Mikey cheered.

"I'm in!" Raph seconded.

"Me too!" Donnie agreed.

"I'm so in!" Leo spoke.

"I'm ready to take my ninja skills to the next level!" Karai stated.

"If that means I can learn new ways to kick everybody's butt, I'm in!" April answered. She then thought for a moment and asked, "Wait, you said one of the reasons. What's the other reason you've decided to give us these skills?"

"You are very perceptive, April, and you are right, I have another reason for choosing the six of you," the Sage explained. "I know that the darkness that's corrupting my world is growing stronger as time goes on. However, my time as the world's guidance is long over, and I wish to entrust my will to the six of you, so that you may help my eventual successor lead my world to peace."

"So you'll help us in our ninja training in exchange for us going to your world and helping end your sons' feud to bring peace," Leo summarized. "That's quite a deal you've made for us."

"I know you don't really have any reason to trust me, and that I'm asking a lot from you, but my world is truly in grave danger and I can no longer watch it suffer while my people praise me as its Ninja God," Hagoromo replied. "Although I cannot directly intervene, I can give others who share my ideals the power to help shape the world, if you will accept my gifts."

The six ninjas of New York City looked at each other before Leo said, "Give us a minute." The ninjas then separated from the Sage of Six Paths and huddled together to talk about what they've been offered. "Alright guys, what do you think we should do?"

"I'm still skeptical about whether this Sage can really help us learn new ninja skills," Donnie replied. "How do we even know he is who he says he is?"

"I'm with scrawny, how do we know we can trust this guy?" Karai questioned.

"Hey! I'm not scrawny, I'm stealth!" Donnie protested.

"Guys, focus! What if this guy's telling the truth and his world really does need our help?" Leo asked.

"Dudes, he says he's the God of Ninjas, and he clearly has the skills to back it up," Mikey said. "If he wants our help in return for giving us new ways to become awesome ninjas, we should do it! I'm sure Splinter would."

"Yeah, well, Splinter isn't here!" Raph countered. "We can't just trust this guy; what if this is a trap to destroy us?!"

"I don't sense that Hagoromo-san is lying," April said. "He does feel like an Alien/Human hybrid like me, and he does seem like a ninja, but it feels like there's more to him than we know; and his presence is too strong for a ghost, but feels like a memory."

"It's your call, fearless leader!" Raph said to Leo.

Leo thought for a moment; the six of them then broke apart and approached the Sage of six Paths. "We have just a few more questions," he declared. "First, how do we know this isn't a trap for you to destroy us?"

Hagoromo's third eye closed before he answered, "I understand your suspicions. However, if I truly wanted to kill you…" His third eye suddenly snapped open; the six ninjas of NY stared into the red eye until they felt a sharp pain in their bodies. They looked down to see that their bodies were impaled by a black blade made from Hagoromo's orbs. Blood spilled from their abdomens before their bodies started to turn to ash. Mikey went first, then April, then Donnie, then Raph, then Karai, and finally Leonardo disintegrated. Leo closed his eyes as he awaited death; his eyes reopened and he saw that he was unharmed. He looked over to his comrades and saw that they were all alive as well, though all of the ninjas were on their knees, sweating bullets and breathing heavily. "I could've easily done so by now," the Sage finished.

"W-What was that?" Karai questioned.

"That was my Genjutsu, an illusion cast on your mind and one of the many abilities shinobis possess in my world, and you can do the same if you accept," Hagoromo replied.

"Okay, so you're clearly not here to kill us," Raph decided. "But how do we know that we'll actually have these abilities that you've promised?"

"I give you my word that you will have these ninjutsu skills. Even when you return to your world, your skills will still remain with you," Hagoromo assured. "But I must warn you that these powers come with a price, and that you will need to train hard to fully master and evolve them, plus the dangers you will face will be severe. If you accept this offer, you could die."

None of the NY warriors spoke for a moment, until finally Leo stepped forward and answered, "Your world is in danger. You offered us new ninja skills in exchange for our help, and I see no reason to turn you down your offer. We accept your discipleship!" His fellow ninja nodded in unison.

Hagoromo smiled at their answer. "I just have one more question," Mikey spoke up. "Does your world have pizza?"

"No," Hagoromo answered simply.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! I'M NOT GOING TO SOME CRAZY WORLD WHERE PIZZA DOESN'T EXIST! I'D RATHER DI— OW!" Mikey screamed before Raph bonked him on the head.

"Anyway," Leo went on, rolling his eyes. "What happens now, Hagoromo-san?"

The Sage of Six Paths clamped his hands together, and six of the ten orbs floated from behind his back and flew toward the NY ninjas. The black spheres phased into the teens, causing them to kneel as they felt a slight pain in their guts. "Ugh, what the heck was that for?" Raph asked.

"I just shared some of my powers with you and unlocked your inner chakra," Hagoromo explained. "But you will not be able to use them until you've entered my world."

"So, what's next?" Karai inquired as she and the others stood back up.

"Now it would be best for you to say goodbye to your loved ones; we will be leaving shortly," the Sage instructed. "Meet me back here when you're ready to go." The Ninja God suddenly vanished from their sight.

Leo turned toward his family and ordered. "April, go tell your Dad and Casey about this! Raph, and Mikey, you two go alert the Mighty Mutanimals! Donnie, go to TCRI and tell Bishop about this! Karai, I don't have to tell you to tell Shinigami and the Foot about this." The other five ninjas nodded before Leo turned to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" Karai asked him.

He turned to her and said, "I'm going to see Master Splinter," before leaving.

The rest of the NY ninjas quickly left to carry out their orders. After they left the amusement park, a black shadowy-like person materialized from the ground. "So, Hagoromo Nisan is recruiting disciples of his own, eh?" the being mused. "Then I shall do the same, and who better to fight ninjas than other ninjas?" The dark person sank back into the ground and disappeared.

 _Then the lights came on_

 _Brighter than ever before_

 _Can you see them shine?_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

 _Won't let them fade_

 _This city's meant for much more_

 _Gonna hear us shout_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

...

 **A/N: Done! Now how's that for a fanfic?! I don't think anyone's come up with something like this before! Now, time for the Ninjas of NY to make their way to the Shinobi world and start their journey to bring peace in the name of their new Sensei, Hagoromo Õtsutsuki! They're still gonna be together and they'll be administered in the Village of the Hidden Leaf. I won't reveal too much, except that each NY ninja will be given the abilities of a different clan; anyone wanna guess who will be a part of which clan? Hope this fanfic grabs the interest of many readers, I've put a lot of my heart and soul into this one, and it might be one of my best yet! Send your reviews, they inspire me! Next chapter – Hagoromo's blessing. Until next time, TTFN, AntiHero out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey there, AntiHero here! My story has already gotten 7 favorites, 5 followers, and 2 reviews; that's a great start for me! Nice to know that people are interested in this story and congrats to Shadowdragon9802 for guessing the clan April and Karai will be a part of; got a request you'd like me to grant? Anyway, hope ya'll enjoy the second chapter, now let's get it on: Go Ninja Go, Go Ninja!**

 **Disclaimer – I own nothing**

 **Chapter 2 – Hagoromo's Blessing**

"Normal Speak,"

 _"Telepathy,"_

 _"*Hagoromo's Telepathy,*"_

 **"Biju Speak/Jutsu exclaimation,"**

 **Location - April's Apartment**

"No! Absolutely not! I forbid it!" Kirby O'Neil shouted. After the Turtles, April, and Karai met the Sage of the Six Paths, they all left to inform their loved ones about the journey they would be taking. April had called Casey and told him to meet at her apartment, where she told her father and human friend of the offer of becoming Hagoromo's disciple. Needless to say, Mr. O'Neil didn't like what she told him.

"Dad, I've already agreed to this," April revealed. "If the Turtles are going, then so am I."

"I will not have my daughter going to some crazy ninja world with some half-alien freak just to learn more of that savagery stuff!" Kirby protested.

"Ninjutsu isn't savagery! It's an ancient art, and like it or not, I am a Kunoichi of the Hamato Clan!" April argued. "I didn't come here for your permission; I'm just telling you what's happening so that you're not worried!"

"The only thing that's gonna make me not worry is you not going!" Kirby told her. "Why can't you just live a normal life like any human would?"

"Uh, Mr. O'Neil," Casey spoke.

"Any _normal_ human would?" Kirby corrected himself.

"Meh, who wants to be normal anyway?" Casey asked rhetorically.

"Because I'm not normal!" April answered her father. "I'm a teenage Kraang-Human hybrid with psychic powers and ninjutsu skills! My life was never normal since the Kraang were always involved in it. Splinter and the Turtles not only helped me cope with it, but taught me how to defend myself, and Donnie helped me discover new things about myself that I never knew!"

Kirby O'Neil sighed. "Look, I'm grateful to Splinter and the Turtles for all they've done for you, and I know that you're a ninja like them, but you're still my daughter, and I don't like when you have to go on these dangerous quests with them."

"You seem fine when I go out on patrol with them," April pointed out.

"That's just inside the city, and even that I still don't like," Kirby replied. "But this is something you've never done before!"

"I've gone into space for 6 months and I've survived Dimension X. I think I can handle it," April assured her dad.

"This is completely different than facing the Kraang, a few mutants, or even the Shredder," Kirby argued. "What if something happens to you? I don't wanna lose you like I did your mother."

"I've helped stop the Kraang Invasion, the destruction of earth at the hands of the Triceratons, Lord Dregg's insect take over, and the defeat of Shredder, the Foot Clan, and Kavaxus," April reminded him. "This may be more dangerous than anything I've encountered, but Hagoromo-san's world is in danger of being consumed by darkness. With so many ninjas like him that are against his ideals, it's little wonder why he wants our help. I want to help him bring peace to his world, and in return, he'll teach me new skills that can help me in the future."

"But April…" Kirby started to say, but before he could continue, his daughter embraced him.

"Don't worry dad, I'll be okay. I am a full-on Kunoichi after all," April promised. "Plus I'll have the turtles and even Karai watching my back."

"There's no talking you out of this, is there?" Kirby asked as he returned the hug.

"Nope," April confirmed. "I'm gonna miss you, dad."

"And I you, my sweet baby girl," Kirby said. "I wish your mother could see how much you've grown."

"Me too, dad," April responded. She then let go of her father and went up to her friend. "I'll miss you too, Casey."

"Still wish I could come with you guys, I would love to help bring down this dark ninja world," Casey Jones said.

"I'm sure you could, but Hagoromo's offer was to ninjas only," April replied. "Besides, Leo says someone needs to stick around and protect New York."

"The city hardly needs protecting these days, and it'll be even more boring with you guys around." Casey pouted.

"Maybe, but who knows, maybe something will happen while we're gone," April tried to comfort him. "And who better to protect the streets of New York than the great Casey Jones?"

"Heh, you got a point there, Red, this city wouldn't be as safe as it is without its solo vigilante," Casey agreed.

April smiled before she hugged her friend. "Take care of yourself, Jones," she said.

"You too, Red. I hope you kick some serious ninja butt," Casey replied. "And tell Donnie that he'd better watch your back for me."

"Like he needs to be told to do that," April said. She let go of the hockey player and left her apartment to get back to Coney Island.

* * *

 **The Mutanimals Crib**

"Gotta say, Raphael, kinda hard to believe what you told me is true," Slash said. "Some half-alien ninja offers to be your new teacher and now you're leaving to some distant world full of ninjas?"

"I know it sounds crazy, Slash, but this guy's ninja skills were insane," Raph admitted. "He was even better than Master Splinter and the Super Shredder, and now he wants to teach us these skills in exchange for us helping to settle his world's problems."

"I still say we shouldn't go! That world has no pizza; how are we supposed to eat?" Mikey questioned.

"We'll find other stuff to eat, you moron! Besides, there's no way I'm letting my brothers learn new ninja moves without me!"

"How long will you be gone, my friends?" Leatherhead inquired.

"As long as it takes to help save Hagoromo-san's world," Raph answered. "You guys will keep the city safe while we're gone, right?"

"No sweat, bros! Anyone who tries to harm our town will taste the wrath of Mondo Gecko!" the Mutant skateboarder exclaimed before doing some lame fighting moves.

"That's it, the city's doomed without us," Raph groaned.

"Don't worry, Raphael, we can handle any threats to the city on our own," Rockwell assured.

"Good luck out there, brother," Slash said with a grin as he held out his fist to the Red Stripe.

"You too, see ya around, Spike." Raph grinned back as he bumped fists with his former pet. "Take care of Chompy for me."

"Sure thing," Slash agreed.

"I'll miss you, my big green buddy!" Mikey exclaimed as he hugged Leatherhead.

"And I will miss you, Michelangelo, my friend," the mutant alligator said as he returned the embrace. "Please be careful."

Mikey nodded before turning to his other reptile friend. "So long, Mondo Gecko. Please take care of Ice Cream Kitty for me," he requested, handing the cooler to the lizard.

"Sure thing, Mikey, hope you come back still cool," the gecko said. "Booyakasha!"

"Cowabunga!" the goofball shouted as he high threed his friend. His pet then popped out of the small cooler and meowed to his owner in sadness. "Sorry, Ice Cream Kitty, can't bring you with me, but I'm sure gonna miss you, my tasty hero," the Turtle said as he petted the feline. The cat licked Mikey's face, and Mikey licked it back. Before they could do it again, Raph grabbed Mikey by the mask and started to pull him away. "C'mon weirdo, you and that frosty furball are starting to make me sick."

* * *

 **TCRI**

"I see, so you're all going to seek training from this foreign ninja in another dimension?" Bishop questioned.

"Yeah, this old ninja's world is in danger, and he wants us to save it. Guess it's back to work for us," Donnie replied. When Bishop didn't respond, Donnie continued talking. "Anyway, I was told to let you know about this, and ask if you and the Utrons could watch over the city for us, and uh… keep an eye on Baxtar Stockman."

"Very well, my friend. Good luck on your journey," Bishop said.

"Thanks, Bishop," Donnie responded as he stepped toward the window and swung away on his grappling hook.

* * *

 **Shredder's old Lair/Karai's Lair now**

"So, you're going to some far off world to seek training from an alien ninja master? Sounds like fun," Shinigami mused.

"It may seem like fun, but it's much more dangerous than it sounds," Karai said. "We're supposed to end an entire world crisis and stop the destruction of a ninja world."

"Still sounds more fun than sitting here doing nothing with a bunch of mercenaries and mutants," Shinigami stated. "You sure I can't go with you?"

Karai put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "I would like for you to go with us, but I need someone to watch over the Foot Clan, and you're the only one I can trust," she told her. "Please, keep an eye on things for me, Shini."

"Yes Karai, I won't let you down," Shinigami promised.

"I know you won't, my friend," Karai said. She then snapped her fingers, and about four or five Foot soldiers appeared. "I am leaving on an important journey, one that will help me to excel in my ninjutsu, and will help me discover new ways in leading the Foot!" she explained to her followers. "I don't know when I'll return, but until I do, you will follow Shinigami! Do as she says, and remember what I taught you: the Foot deserves a noble destiny, one with honor!"

"We will not disappoint you, Mistress Karai," one of the soldiers assured her.

Karai then left out the door while thinking, _"Heh, Mistress Karai, I think I'm gonna miss being called that."_

* * *

 **April's Farmhouse**

Leonardo approached his Master's grave; he knelt in front of it and remained silent for a moment before finally speaking. "Hi Master Splinter, it's been a while. We all miss you. Even though you're gone, our adventures haven't stopped. We managed to save the world from another alien invasion, saved another dimension from evil, saved the world from an army of actual monsters, and defeated Shredder and Kraang's dimensional counterparts. Ever since then, the city's been peaceful, and it's gotten kinda boring. But then we met this alien ninja master who offered to teach us a whole new style of ninjutsu, and in return, we have to help bring peace to his world.

"It's hard to believe that there's any ninja out there with skills more magnificent than the Hamato or the Foot Clan, even greater than yours and Shredder's, and there an entire world with more ninjas than we ever thought could exist. My brothers, April, Karai, and I have accepted our new Sensei's offer and are now preparing to go to his world. We don't know how long this quest will take, but we're ready to take our ninjutsu to the next level and help save this ninja world from destruction. This may be different from anything we've done before, but don't worry, we can handle it. We'll use everything you've taught us, and we'll always remember to look toward the light in times of darkness, just like you said. We'll make you proud, Father.

"We'll be back, Sensei, I promise," he said. Leonardo got up and bowed to Splinter's grave before walking over to the Party Wagon and getting inside. He took one last look at Splinter's grave and said, "Goodbye Sensei, thanks for everything." He then started the vehicle and drove away from the farmhouse.

* * *

 **Coney Island**

April, Donnie, Karai, Mikey, and Raph all arrived at the amusement park after informing their allies of their journey; they were now waiting patiently for their leader to arrive as well as their new Sensei. Pretty soon, Leo showed up in the Party Wagon; he stepped out and went toward his comrades. "Leo, you ok?" Raph inquired.

"I'm fine, Raph," said Leo. "Are we ready to go?"

Everyone nodded. "Yeah bra, we're ready some serious ninja training and a new world that needs saving," Mikey answered as he slung a big bag over his shoulder. All of his fellow ninjas stared at him in confusion.

"Uh Mikey, what's in the bag?" Donnie asked.

The goofball opened up the bag to reveal various pizza boxes. "A lifetime supply of pizza, D!" he replied. "If I'm going to some far-off ninja world with no pizza in it, I'm bringing my own so that I don't starve to death!"

"I'm pretty sure they have food in Hagoromo's world, he just said that there was no pizza," April told him.

"Besides, I don't think you've got enough pizza in there to last a lifetime," Donnie said. "I estimate about 5 months and 6 days… assuming you don't eat it all here and learn to ration your supply." As he spoke, Michelangelo was munching on a slice of anchovy and mushroom pizza. "Mikey!"

"What?! I'm just enjoying my last taste of pizza in New York, I still have more!" Mikey defended himself.

"So, where our new Sensei anyway?" Karai wondered.

"I see you're all here," said a voice from above. The Turtles, April, and Karai looked up to see Hagoromo Õtsutsuki descending from the sky. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. All of the Hamato ninjas nodded. "I must warn you one more time, this task will be a dangerous one, and there is the risk of you dying my world. If you wish to turn back, now would be the time."

"We're ninjas, and a true ninja doesn't turn back. We're going," Leonardo replied resolutely. The others nodded in agreement.

Hagoromo smiled. "Very well." He then held his dual-headed shakujō toward his new disciples. "Touch my staff with your hands if you are ready to receive my blessings."

The ninjas of New York looked at each other before nodding once again. They all grabbed onto the Sage's staff. The dual-headed shakujō started to light up and vibrate; the mutant ninjas were soon consumed in a blinding gold light before they disappeared along with the God of Shinobi.

* * *

 **Shinobi World, the forest just outside Konoha**

The ninjas of Hamato Clan suddenly found themselves laying the grassy ground in inside a forest. They all sat up as they recovered from the trip to this new world. "Is everyone ok?" Leonardo asked.

"I'm not sure. I feel weird, different," Raph replied.

"I think my head's still pounding from the ride," April said. "What happened anyway?"

"I think Hagoromo must've somehow transported us to his world when we made contact with his staff," Donnie answered after taking in his surroundings. "Probably another one of his jutsu."

"Well, where is he anyway?" Karai questioned. "And why do I feel so different?"

"Whoa! Karai, is that really you?" Leo exclaimed in shock.

"What do you mean, Leo?" she inquired.

"April, how do you feel?" Donnie asked.

"Kinda the same, but younger for some reason," April replied. "Why?"

"Whoa, you guys got turned into little kids!" Mikey pointed out. "Aw, you girls look so cute!"

"I never thought the fierce princess of the Foot would look so adorable!" Raphael laughed.

"What are you talking about?" Karai asked after finally opening her eyes. April brought out her dragon tanto and looked at her reflection; sure enough, she still looked like herself, but her face held the look of a little girl. She showed the blade to Karai, and just like her, she saw a reflection of herself but younger. "Whoa, we really are little girls now; we must be about five years old."

"Mm, judging by your size, and the sound of your voices, I'd say you're actually eight," Donnie corrected her.

"Ok, this is a little weird. Not sure if I wanna wait to hit puberty again," April said.

"I wonder if we're younger too," Leo mused.

"What's with the white robes you girls are wearing anyway?" Raph asked.

"I'm not sure, but they look similar to Hagoromo-san's," April noted.

"Where are you guys, anyway?" Karai wondered.

"Uh, we're right behind you," Leo told her.

The female ninjas turned around and were surprised by what they saw; the turtles looked confused from the looks the girls were giving them. "What? I got something on my face?" Mikey asked.

"Why are you staring at us like that?" Leo inquired.

"Is something wrong?" Donnie questioned.

"What the heck's wrong with you girls?!" asked an irritated Raph.

The girls didn't answer, April just held up her dragon tanto for them to see their reflections. What should've been the mirror image of four mutant turtles was actually the reflection of four little boys wearing the same white robe as the Sage of Six Paths. The first boy had dark blue, spiky hair; his eyes were white irises with no visible pupils. The second boy had dark red hair and green eyes while the third boy's hair was long and purple, and his eyes were red, and the fourth boy had orange, spiky hair and blue eyes. Leo, Raph, and Donnie's eyes grew wide when they saw the four boys in the reflection holding a blue, red, and purple mask, respectively, while Mikey just looked confused.

"Ho…" Leo began.

"ly…" Raph continued.

"Jaloopa!" Donnie finished.

"Hey guys, check out April's tanto. There's a reflection of four boys holding our masks, and the orange-haired dummy is doing what I'm doing," Mikey said as he made weird poses before he was slapped in the head. "Ow, hey!"

"Those four boys are us, which means the orange-haired dummy is you," Raph told him.

"Whoa! We're humans now!" Mikey exclaimed as he inspected himself. "Awesome!"

"How is this possible? Is this another one of Hagoromo's jutsu?" Leo wondered as he looked at his hands.

"Who cares?! This is so cool!" Donnie said as he felt his skin.

"No, this is not cool!" Raph argued while playing with his hair. "We used to be so handsome, now look at us! Why would you think this is cool?!"

"I've always studied the difference between the human body and the turtle body, but now I can personally experience that difference," Donatello replied.

"Are you sure the real reason isn't so that now you have a shot with you-know-who?" Raphael whispered, making Donnie turn red.

"What are you guys talking about?" April questioned.

"Nothing!" Donnie quickly dismissed while covering Raph's mouth.

"Huh, so that's what a human looks like when they turn red," Leo observed.

"Speaking of red, your hair's totally darkened in color, April," Donnie pointed out.

April pulled out a few strands of her hair and looked at it. ( **A/N: Like Kushina's hair.** ) "Does it look bad?" she asked.

"No. Actually, it looks pretty nice," Donnie complimented before he started stammering. "N-Not that your old hair wasn't p-pretty or nice, just that this one is b-beautiful, I mean your o-other hair was beautiful, i-it's just that this one is—Ow!" He rubbed his head after his brother slapped him.

"You're welcome," Raph muttered. "By the way, Leo, what's with your eyes?"

"I don't know, but even though they're like this, I can still see fine," Leo replied.

"Are you sure?" Mikey asked before he began waving his hand in front of his brother's face; seconds later, Leo became annoyed and squeezed his hand. "Ow… ok, you're sure."

"Anyway, what are we supposed to do now?" Karai questioned.

" _*Now, you head towards the Village of the Hidden Leaf,*"_ a voice in their heads answered.

"Either Raph hit me too hard, or I just heard Hagoromo-san's voice in my head," Donnie said.

"No way, brah, I heard it too," Mikey agreed.

"I'd say you're both nuts, but I heard him as well," Raph conceded.

"Is that you, Hagoromo Sensei?" April inquired.

" _*Yes, I am speaking to the six of you through your minds,*"_ Hagoromo replied. _"*This is how I will be directing and guiding you through this world from time to time.*"_

"I thought you were supposed to be teaching us new skills? And why can't you be here in person?" Karai asked.

" _*I'm afraid that since my time in this world is long past, I no longer have a physical form to appear in. I can only appear through mental or spiritual means,*"_ the Sage explained. _"*Now, you must begin your journey and your ninja training.*"_

"Why did you change us into little kids?" Leo wanted to know. "How are we supposed to bring peace to this world like this anyway?"

" _*Leonardo, how can you bring peace to a new world if you are not a part of it?*"_ Hagoromo asked in return. Leo couldn't answer his question, nor could any of his teammates. _"*My son believed that power was all that was needed for peace, but true peace can never be achieved if no one understands the feelings of their fellow human beings. I asked you to help bring peace to this world, and the best way for you to do that is for you associate with the people, learn them, understand them, and eventually help them in times of darkness. Now, the abilities I have given you are significant to the different clans in Konoha. Each one of you must join your new clans in order to improve your new abilities.*"_

"So, who belongs to which clan?" April inquired.

" _*Michelangelo, you belong to the_ _Akimichi_ _clan. This clan is proficient in Taijutsu and can use a Ninjutsu that allows them to expand parts of or their entire body in order to strengthen their physical attacks. They also have enormous appetites,*"_ Hagoromo explained.

"Sweet!" Mikey exclaimed.

" _*Donatello, you belong to the Nara clan. This clan uses a specific Ninjutsu that allows them to use their shadows as their primary weapon. They are also highly intelligent, like you.*"_

"Well, I guess that does seem fitting; I _am_ the smartest member of my team," Donnie spoke.

" _*Raphael, you are part of the Senju clan. This is one of the clans that my 2_ _nd_ _son Ashura founded; the members of this clan are very few. They have strong bodies and have inherited the physical strength of Ashura. They can also use this special Ninjutsu known as wood style, which you will learn to use over time.*"_

"As long as I get to beat up as many ninjas as I want, I don't mind at all," Raph said.

" _*April, you belong to the Uzumaki clan. This clan's common trait is the red hair they possess like you do now. This is another clan founded by Ashura and has few members left. They possess amazing talent in sealing jutsu and have large reserves of chakra. They also have strong life forces and incredible healing abilities.*"_

"Uh, Hagoromo-san, what's chakra?" April asked.

"I remember Splinter telling me about this chakra once," Leo responded. "He said that they were spiritual gates within the human body in which a ninja could train to open in order to achieve enlightenment."

" _*That is correct…in your world. But in this world, chakra has a much higher purpose,*"_ Hagoromo said. _"*Chakra is basically a mixture of spiritual energy or Chi and physical energy or stamina that allows a ninja to perform jutsu.*."_

"I see, so the more stamina and Chi a ninja has, the more chakra they can use," Leo surmised.

" _*Exactly,*"_ Hagoromo told him before he continued explaining. _"*Karai, you belong to the Uchiha clan. This clan is made up of descendants of my 1_ _st_ _son, Indra. They also have large reserves of chakra, and they possess powerful visual prowess known as the Sharingan; their eyes allow them to cast or see through Genjutsu, hypnotize people, see chakra flow, and read and predict your opponents' movements as well as mimic them. This clan can also naturally use fire style jutsu. Once you've awakened your Sharingan, your visual prowess will continue to grow as time goes on, but be warned: the Uchihas at times fall victim to the curse of hatred. I believe you will be one of the few who will overcome this affliction, but be cautious.*"_

"Hai, Hagoromo-san," Karai said.

" _*Leonardo, you belong to the Hyuga clan; they are the descendants of my younger brother. This clan specializes in a Taijutsu known as the Gentle Fist. This allows you to strike a person's chakra points and block their chakra flow, preventing the use of jutsu, as well as emit chakra from the chakra points on your body. You also possess a visual prowess known as the Byakugan. Your eyes allow you to see a person's chakra points, locate things from a far distance or even behind you, and give you X-ray vision. Unlike the Sharingan, your Byakugan is already awakened, and the use of it should come naturally. The Hyuga clan is split into two branches: the main branch and the cadet branch. The cadet branch's duty is to serve the main household, and each member of the cadet branch is branded with a curse mark that allows the main branch to control them in case of emergencies, and this mark does not fade away until death.*"_

"Are you saying that I may be placed in the cadet branch of the Hyuga clan?" Leonardo questioned.

" _*It is a possibility, just be very careful,*"_ Hagoromo warned.

"Hai, Sensei."

" _*Now go, my disciples, make your way to the Hidden Leaf Village and take refuge. Your journey to bring peace will be a hard one, but I have the utmost confidence that the six of you will be able to do it. I must leave you on your own for now, but I will check in every once in a while. Good luck.*"_ Hagoromo gave his final words before his voice completely faded from their minds.

"So, does anyone know how to get to the Hidden Leaf village?" Donnie inquired.

"Our new teacher should've shown us the way before ditching us like that!" Raph growled.

"Maybe we should go this way," Mikey suggested.

"No way I'm letting you point us in the wrong direction, moron," Raph immediately refused.

"So where to, fearless leader?" Karai asked.

Before Leo could make a decision, April started wandering in the opposite direction than the one Mikey suggested. "Guys, I think I'm sensing something in this direction," she said.

"Like what?" Donnie questioned.

"I'm not sure, but whatever I'm sensing, there seems to be a lot of it in this direction," April replied. "I can sense the same thing from you guys. I think it might be that chakra Master Hagoromo told us about."

"If that's true, that means there would have to be a lot of people in the village with chakra," Karai deduced.

"And if what you're sensing is chakra, that means that where there's a lot of it is most likely the Konoha village," Donnie said.

"Only one way to know for certain." Leo faced the direction April was facing. The veins in his eyes suddenly began to bulge.

"Whoa, Leo, what's up with your eyes?" Karai asked.

"Dude, I can see the veins going to your eyes," Mikey stated.

"Wow, fascinating," Donnie noted as he waved his hand in front of Leo's face.

"Donnie, do you mind moving? I'm trying to use the Byakugan that Hagoromo said I had!" Leo said.

"Sorry, Leo," Donnie apologized.

"So, do you see anything, bro?" Raph questioned.

Leo's eyes widened at all that he was capable of seeing; the world around became extremely clear, and he could point out nearly every detail in the forest around him. "This is incredible, it's like my vision has been enhanced!" Leonardo exclaimed. "I can see so much: the trees, the birds, even the tiniest of bugs! My eyes take in every bit of detail in my surroundings! I can see things, and I can see through things, I can even see things directly behind me! This eyesight is kind of overwhelming, and hard to adjust with, but it's still pretty cool!"

"Leo, play with your new toys later," Raph berated him. "Right now, we need to find the Leaf village."

"Right, gotcha, just gimme a sec," Leo said. He then placed his hands together and looked toward the direction where April had sensed various chakras. His vision stretched through the forest, and eventually he spotted a large village. It was full of people, and some of the citizens he saw were jumping from rooftop to rooftop with incredible speed. "I see the Hidden Leaf village, and Hagoromo-san was right. There are a lot more ninjas in this town than in all of Japan!"

"Alright the All-seeing Leo, take us to our destination!" Mikey exclaimed.

The Hamato leader picked up his supplies, as did his comrades, and the six of them journeyed toward the Village of Konohagakure. The ninjas of New York eventually came across a large wooden gate with the village name on it. "Looks like we're here," April observed.

"So, should we knock or something?" Raph wondered.

"I think it'd be better if we just jumped over the gate," Donnie suggested.

"Alright Konoha, say hello to the ninjas of New York!" Mikey shouted as he prepared to flip over the village entrance before his mask was suddenly grabbed by Leonardo.

"Hold on, Mikey, we can't just enter the village like that," Leo chastised him as he activated his Byakugan again. "I see a giant dome that covers the entire village and the sky above, and this may sound even weirder, but I think the dome is made of chakra."

"What?! You're crazy, bro!" Raph argued.

"Are you sure, Leo?" Donnie questioned. "Cause if this dome is composed of chakra, which is a mixture of physical energy and spirit energy, then it would have to take a massive amount of chakra in order form a barrier around the entire village!"

"I'm positive! The very chakra I see surrounding this village is similar to the chakra I see inside of you guys," Leo assured.

"Whoa, you can see our chalka?" Mikey asked.

"Chakra," Donnie corrected.

"Yes, I can see your chakras, too," Leo answered.

"Well, I don't see anything," April said.

"Neither do I," Raph stated. "I think the blood going to your eyes is messing up your eyesight."

"Whoa, I can see it!" Karai abruptly announced. Everyone turned toward her and were met with a stunning surprise; just like Leo's, Karai's eyes had taken a different form, but hers were red with a tiny black pupil, a circle around it, and a single tomoe. "This is wicked!"

"Hey princess, what's going on with your eyes?!" Raph questioned as he attempted to poke her in the eye; the former red-masked turtle's hand moved slowly toward the foot ninja's eye, or at least that's what it looked like to her. Just before Raph could reach her eyes, Karai's hand grabbed and squeezed his fingers faster than any of them could see or react. "Aaahhh! What the heck?!" Raphael cried. He pulled his hand from her grip and growled as he massaged it; he then reared his fist back and tried to punch the kunoichi. Once again, Karai reacted instantly by blocking his strike, which only seemed to infuriate him more. The team brute continued to throw various blows at the girl ninja; although his movements were a little fast to the others, he was moving too slow to keep up with Karai's, as she easily avoided all his attacks before kicking him away. Raph attempted to attack her again before a chain was suddenly wrapped around his torso.

"You need to chill, bro," Mikey said as he pulled Raph away from Karai.

Raph glared at him for a bit before taking a deep breath and calming down. "You're right, Mikey. Sorry about that, guys," he apologized.

"Hey Karai, how'd you do that?" April inquired. "You managed to outmaneuver Raph and block all of his attacks."

"I'm not sure, Raphael was just moving too slowly for me," Karai said.

"Hey!" Raph shouted indignantly.

"I mean, his movements were literally slow, and I'm pretty sure he was moving as fast as he could," Karai explained.

"Maybe not as fast," Raph muttered.

"Your eyes were moving in sync with Raph's movements," Leo stated. "When we fought Hagoromo-san, I saw his third eye doing the same thing, which is how he was able to read and predict our moves."

"This must be the Sharingan that Hagoromo said you have," Donatello added. "But why do have them now?"

"Who knows, but this is so cool!" Karai exclaimed. "I can't see all of my surroundings like Leo, or see things at a distance, but my vision feels enhanced, and I can see chakra!"

"Guess that explains why the two of you can see the barrier and we can't," April said.

Suddenly, Karai felt a sharp pain and placed her hands on her face; when she removed them, her eyes had returned to their original state. "What was that?" she wondered.

"You ok, Karai?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, that was weird," she replied.

"Looks like your eyes have returned to normal," Leo noted. "Guess you can't fully use your Sharingan yet."

"We can worry about that after we get inside the village," Karai decided.

"So, if this shield supposed to keep intruders out, how are we going to get in?!" Raph questioned.

"I don't think it's actually a shield," Donnie corrected. "Just a barrier."

"Wow, thanks for clarifying Donnie; now I know the difference," Raph said sarcastically.

"Muscle brain, if this was a shield it would be visible, considering the amount of chakra it takes to make it," Donnie spelled out. "But since we can't see it, it clearly doesn't have to power to keep people out of the village."

"So what's it for?" Mikey wondered.

"It's probably a detection barrier, so its purpose would be to sense when an outsider has infiltrated the village and alerts the ninjas inside," Donnie elucidated, but Mikey gave him a confused look, prompting Donnie to simplify. "We can step through the dome, but if we do, the village will know we're here and we'll be surrounded by ninjas."

"Oh, what's so bad about that?" Mikey questioned as he attempted to enter but he was quickly pulled back by his intelligent older brother.

"Dummy, if we go in there we'll be labeled as intruders, and we'll be attacked or captured," Donnie pointed out.

"But we're ninjas like them," Mikey argued.

"Yeah, ninjas who are not from this village," Raph retorted. "So, they have no reason to trust us."

"Plus, we'd be at a major disadvantage since we don't know how to use our chakra and we're a bunch of six year olds," Leo added.

"Well, we can't just stand out here all day," April said. "We agreed to help Hagoromo and the only way we can do that is by getting in this village!"

"April's right, we have to go in," Donnie agreed.

"Ok, so in we go!" Mikey cheered. He aspired to entering Konoha again, only to be stopped by his aggressive older brother. "Dudes, are we doing this or not?! What's the holdup now?!"

"What are we supposed to tell the people when they ask us questions about ourselves, 'cause they will ask us questions," Raphael said.

"Why don't we just tell them the truth?" Mikey asked.

"Oh yeah, that's a great idea, Mikey! Let's tell them that the four of us are actually giant talking turtles, April's an alien/human hybrid, Karai's a snake mutant, and that we're all from a completely different universe but were sent here by some dead alien ninja god; they'll surely believe that!" Raph said sarcastically before bonking Mikey on the head.

"Ow!" Mikey cried.

"We can't tell them about our past; I don't think they'd believe us," April said.

"But if they did believe us, I don't think they would trust us at all," Karai added.

"So, what do we say?" Donnie asked.

"We just tell them that we're ninjas of the Hamato clan and that we were blessed with the ability to manipulate chakra from Hagoromo-san," Leo instructed. "Let's just hope this goes smoothly. Everybody ready?" His friends nodded and the six of them approached the gate; they all jumped over the gate and entered the village. The second all six of them passed through the dome and touched the ground, the defense barrier cell had detected their presence. "Intruders!" one of the watch guards cried. "Six targets, South gate, sector 1-V!" Multiple Shinobi left the defense cell to capture the intruders.

"So this is the village of the Hidden Leaves," Leo said. "It does kinda remind me of Japan."

"Yeah, all of the buildings are so old here," Karai observed.

"These homes were most likely constructed from wood and nails rather than the stone and concrete that our NYC uses," Donnie explained.

"I think this place looks amazing," April voiced.

"Eh, this place seems pretty quiet and peaceful for a ninja-thriving town," Raph said.

"That's what we thought about New York before we met the Kraang and the Foot Clan," Leo countered.

"Whoa dudes, check out that mountain with those faces on them!" Mikey exclaimed as he pointed in another direction. The six ninjas of NY looked over and spotted the Hokage monument where the faces of the first, second, third, and fourth Hokages were engraved.

"Wow, that mountain reminds me of the mountain, Mount Rushmore, which I visited with my father," April noted.

"Mount Rushmore holds the heads of USA presidents. If this monument is anything like that, then those faces must be the ones of the former village leaders," Donnie deduced.

"If we wanna take refuge here, we should speak to the current village leader," Leo suggested.

While the six of them were observing the village, two Jonins and two Chunins were stationed on a rooftop and spying on them. "Our intruders are just kids?!" the first Jonin questioned.

"It would appear so," the second Jonin replied.

"They all seem to be carrying weapons, they could be Shinobi from another village," the first Chunin suggested.

"Could they be our enemies trying to deceive us by using the Transformation Jutsu?" the second Chunin pondered.

"I highly doubt that," a voice said lazily from behind the ninjas; they all turned around to find the infamous Mirror Ninja standing there while reading a hand-sized book.

"Hatake Kakashi!" one of the Chunins exclaimed.

"These children have been in this village for about 20 seconds, and they've done nothing but stand at the gate and look around the village. Enemies would have dispersed and started attacking the village right off the bat, but these children show no hostility, only interest at being inside Konoha for the first time," Kakashi said. "Although their weapons may indicate that they are skilled in fighting and might be dangerous, any enemy village would know that sending in small children to infiltrate our village would mean sending them to their deaths."

"So, what do you think of these children, Kakashi?" the first Jonin inquired.

The Mirror Ninja scrutinized the ninjas of NY with his one eye. "They're too young to be any real threat to our village. They probably haven't even started ninja school yet, and those robes don't look like anything from Major Nations, so they can't be from any rival villages. They're most likely just lost kids that wandered into our home," Kakashi answered. "It's probably best if we take them to the Hokage right away."

"Yes sir!" the ninjas said.

"Are we gonna stand here all day, or are we gonna find this village leader already?!" an impatient Raph questioned.

"We can't just go wandering a foreign village! If someone sees us, we could get in trouble!" Donnie warned his brother.

"I thought you said that we would be detected the moment we entered the village," Karai reminded him. "Why hasn't anyone shown up?"

"Ugh, my head!" April groaned before she said, "Guys, we're about to have some company."

At that moment, Kakashi and the four other ninjas had appeared and surrounded the NY ninjas. "That masked man definitely looks like a ninja," Leo stated, his comrades nodding in agreement.

"Hello children, welcome to Konoha," Kakashi greeted them. "I see that you're new here, so why don't you come with us so we can see the Hokage and figure out a way to help you?"

The Hamato ninja were about to reach for their weapons before Leo whispered, "Everyone, stand down!" The six ninjas remained calm and nodded before following Kakashi and crew; as they walked through the village, they noticed many people and children staring at them with much curiosity. They finally entered the Hokage's office, where they saw an old man in a robe, wearing a strange hat and scolding a blond-haired boy about their age with whisker-like marks on his cheeks. They noticed Kakashi giving the boy a look of pity as if he knew this child personally; the expression lasted for about three seconds before it changed back to its neutral look. The old man advised the boy to cease pranking the villagers, but the boy simply stuck out his tongue before turning away from the old man, who just sighed disappointingly.

"Kid's kinda like Mikey," Raph whispered. "As if we need more of those."

"Hey!" Mikey said.

The boy was told to leave then. As the troublemaker left, he looked at the six ninjas with wonder; they all waved at him, which caught him off guard. People didn't usually look at him without fear or hatred and they didn't bother acknowledging his existence, let alone show him courtesy. Nevertheless, the boy waved back at them and they nodded at him while smiling before he stepped out the door. The NY ninjas then turned their attention to the old man who was now sitting at his desk while Kakashi came up to him. "Ah, Kakashi, what can I do for you?" the old man asked while smoking his pipe.

"Lord Hokage, these children were found just outside the south gate. We believe that they are lost," Kakashi reported.

"I see," the 3rd Hokage said as he examined the former turtles, April, and Karai.

"So this guy's the Hokage, the village leader?" Karai questioned.

"He doesn't look like much, just an old man," Mikey whispered.

"If he's the leader of an entire ninja village, then he's clearly more than just an old man," Leo figured.

"Hokage means fire shadow and his face is the third one on the monument," Donnie said. "He's got to be pretty strong in order to earn that title, and I imagine the other three heads we saw we the previous Hokages."

"I'm sensing a strong chakra from that Kakashi guy, and that old man's chakra feels greater than his," April stated.

"Why does one of them resemble a member of the Hyuga clan?" the village leader inquired.

"I don't know, sir, but I was hoping you could tell us what to do with these children," Kakashi replied.

The third Hokage looked at the children again before saying, "Their robes don't look like they're from any of the five nations."

"Yes sir, we believe they're not from any enemy village," the Mirror Ninja confirmed. "But their symbols are unfamiliar to me."

"I know that crest; it belongs to the Sage of the Six Paths' clan," Hiruzen stated, which surprised Kakashi. "Perhaps these children are affiliated with the God of all Shinobi's followers."

"You know of Master Hagoromo?" Leo asked.

Hearing that name from the child's mouth surprised the older ninjas "Master Hagoromo? Not many Shinobi know of the Sage's true name," the 3rd Hokage said. "Tell me, boy, what is your name and how do you know of the Sage of Six Paths?"

The Hamato leader stepped forward and answered. "My name is Hamato Leonardo. My comrades and I are the disciples of the Sage of Six Paths."

 _Then the lights came on_

 _Brighter than ever before_

 _Can you see them shine?_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

 _Won't let them fade_

 _This city's meant for much more_

 _Gonna hear us shout_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

...

 **A/N: And done! Wow this one sure took a while, but now you know where in the story the Hamato ninjas appear in, which is years before the series starts. Don't worry, the third chapter will be the last one where their just little kids; after that I'll skip to the start of the series since I don't want to reveal all of what they'll have to learn over the years. Now to move on toward the next chapter and thank all of my favorites, followers, and reviewers; glad to see this story is becoming a hit! If anyone wants to guess which three will be on a squad and who will be their Sensei, go right ahead, I enjoy it when people send guesses in reviews or private messages, especially when they guess right; it proves that there are people out there who think like me, and great minds think alike! That's all for now!**

 **Recommendations:**

 **The Real Me by Sally B. Mcgill**

 **Mirai Shinobi by King Archangel**

 **The Fairy Tail Shapeshifter by sparkydragon98**

 **This War of Mine by Sivam-Surprise**

 **Until next time, TTFN AntiHero out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey there! AntiHero here and it's good to be back! Now it's time for another chapter of Go Ninja! Little heads up, I'm not gonna go in much about the years the NY ninjas spent in the academy; it's mostly gonna be just their interrogation, the clans they'll be put in, their first time in school, and the friends they make. Basically, that's it before we move onto the series. Thank you to all who have favorited, followed or reviewed my story; I'm glad I've piqued your interest!**

 **Disclaimer – I do not own TMNT or Naruto**

 **Chapter 3 – Training begins**

"Tell me, boy, what is your name and how do you know of the Sage of Six Paths?" Lord Hiruzen questioned.

The Hamato leader stepped forward and answered, "My name is Hamato Leonardo. My comrades and I are the disciples of the Sage of Six Paths." The older ninjas stared at the boy with surprised expressions. Leo continued to introduce his comrades. "My brothers and friends here are members of the Hamato Clan that were blessed by Master Hagoromo."

The 3rd Hokage smoked his pipe as he continued to listen to the kids. "Interesting, and what are your names, children?" he asked the other NY ninjas.

"Hamato Raphael," Raph replied.

"Hamato Donatello," Donnie said.

"Hamato Michelangelo, dog," Mikey answered, earning a smack from Raph.

"Hamato Miwa," Karai introduced herself. "But call me Karai."

"April O'Neil," April said.

"Your surname's different from the others," Kakashi stated.

"I wasn't born into the Hamato Clan like they were," April explained. "The head of the clan took me in and taught me alongside them."

"The Hamato Clan? I didn't know that clan was still around," lord 3rd said.

"Do you know of this clan, lord Hiruzen?" Kakashi asked.

The Fire shadow nodded. "The Hamato Clan is supposed to be a clan of Shinobi who worship the Sage of Six Paths," he explained. "They are incapable of using chakra but they have trained their bodies beyond the limits of the average ninja. They are known to have mastered the 18 types of Ninjutsu including Taijutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Shinobi-iri, as well weapon style fighting, according to the legends." The ninjas of the Hamato Clan looked at each other as they all realized that these legends must have been brought up by Master Hagoromo. "The last anyone heard about the Hamato Clan was that it was wiped out in a war with its rival clan, the Foot Clan. No one knew there were any survivors."

"That's because we've been living in the shadows until now," Leo replied. "And you were right, the Hamato Clan and the Foot Clan did wipe each other out in their battle, but three ninjas managed to survive the onslaught. The Foot's leader, Oroku Saki, aka the Shredder, the Head of the Hamato Clan-HamatoYoshi also known as Master Splinter, and his daughter, Hamato Miwa."

"I see. Then where is your Master now?" Kakashi inquired.

The children looked down in sadness at the mention of their deceased Sensei. "He's dead," Raphael said glumly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hiruzen said softly. "But would you please tell us your stories?"

The six ninja looked at each other and nodded. "Our stories begin after the feud between the two clans had ended. The Hamato Clan was the victor and the only survivor was the heir of the Foot Clan who was only an infant at the time, Oroku Saki," Leo began. "He was raised alongside Splinter as his brother and the two became close friends as well as rivals. Their rivalry grew stronger when they both fell in love with Karai's mother, Tang Shen."

"My mother chose to be with my father, and Shredder could not accept her decision. He then learned of his inheritance and he grew bitter and jealous of his brother, which later turned to hate," Karai continued. "He attacked my father and ended up killing my mother and stole me from my father while leaving him to die." She clenched her fist in anger. "He lied to me and raised me to believe that my real father was the one responsible for my mother's death and that he was my enemy."

"Our Sensei survived but believed he lost both his wife and child that night, and spent his days wondering alone," Donnie explained. "He eventually found four orphans, me and my brothers, and took us in. He raised us and trained us in the way of the Hamato Clan."

"The four of you are quadruplets?" the mirror ninja asked the boys; they nodded in response. "So, who's the oldest?"

"Leo is," Raph answered. "After years of ninja training, he finally let us out to explore the world. But not long after he did, we were discovered by the Shredder and he learned that Splinter was alive."

"He's been, like, seriously hunting us ever since; he was completely obsessed with destroying us!" Mikey stated.

"I was made a member of the Hamato Clan after the boys saved me from a group of thugs that tried to kidnap me and my father," April explained.

"At some point my father learned that I was alive from the Shredder, and Leo revealed the truth to me," Karai went on from there. "Sadly, after the many battles they had, Shredder finally won when he killed Splinter."

"After Splinter's death, Leo was named Head of the Hamato Clan and my brothers and I went to face the Shredder," Raph said.

"The battle was hard and our chances of victory were very slim, almost non-existent," Donnie added.

"But Leo totally managed to take out Shredhead by getting a lucky hit!" Mikey exclaimed.

"After Shredder's defeat, the six of us were left without a Sensei," Leo continued. "We were lost without our ninja way. But then, the spirit of Master Hagoromo spoke to us and said that he had chosen the six of us to be his disciples. He gave us the ability to use chakra, bestowed on us the talents of six different clans, and instructed us to come to this village. I was given the abilities of the Hyuga Clan."

"I have the abilities of the Uchiha Clan," Karai revealed.

"Uzumaki Clan," April told them.

"Senju Clan," Raph said.

"Nara Clan," Donnie spoke.

"The Aka-Akaimaki-Akomari…Uh…" Mikey attempted to remember his clan's name.

Leo corrected him. "Akimichi Clan."

"This one's not too bright, is he?" Kakashi deadpanned, to which the others shook their heads.

"I must admit, children, that's quite a story you've told us," the 3rd Hokage admitted. "It sounds farfetched, actually."

"It's certainly hard to believe that the spirit of the God of all Shinobi would seek out students from a false ninja clan composed of posers and ninja wannabes," Kakashi commented. Hearing an insult to their clan's honor infuriated the Hamato ninjas, especially Raphael.

"Who are you calling a ninja wannabe?! Look in the mirror often?! You covered half of your face and one of your eyes with your headband; what's the matter, couldn't afford the whole mask?!" Raph tried to mock the Jonin, but he didn't look the least bit offended. "And what's with the lame haircut?! Just so you know, our Sensei may not have been able to use chakra like you guys, but he was one of the greatest ninjas of his time! And I will not stand here and let some scarecrow off his post insult our clan's honor… ack!" Raph stopped ranting when his older brother jabbed him in the chest.

"Thank you, Raphael, for sharing, I will take over now," Leo calmly said to his brother; he then stepped closer until he was directly in front of the Hokage's desk. "Lord Hokage, I know our story may sound unbelievable and that you don't have any real reason to trust a bunch of kids that just wandered into your village, but I assure you, what we told you is the truth. The Sage of Six Paths sent us to your village and gave us these abilities with the task of learning how to use them." He then bowed his head to the village leader which surprised him and the mirror ninja. "I beg you not to turn my comrades and I away but to accept us as your own. Without our Sensei to guide us, our lives felt empty, but now we have a purpose: to find our own ninja ways and start our own paths, and the first step is here." His friends followed his example and bowed to the Hokage, though Raph and Mikey had to be forced to do it.

The Hokage and Kakashi exchanged a look before the old man brought out his pipe and let out a breath. "We're not gonna kick you out the village, but we still need time to think about what to do with you, children."

"So, does this mean we can stay?" April asked.

"For now," Hiruzen replied.

"Alright!" Mikey cheered.

"Kakashi, escort these kids to the Intel division," Hiruzen ordered the Jonin. "I'll summon the village elders and the clan leaders for a meeting about the situation." The Mirror ninja nodded and gestured to the NY ninjas to follow him; the kids bowed to the Hokage and left with Kakashi. The one-eyed Shinobi led the children through the village. They were amazed by how big it was; they saw many buildings, stores, and people, ninja and non.

"Weird, Master Splinter always taught us that a ninja operates from the shadows, that it would be best if we lived in secret. But here, Shinobi are just walking around in the daytime like it's normal," Leo noted from what he observed.

"Actually, the time is around noon, but I get what you're saying," Donnie agreed. "We always had to wait till nighttime to go out so that people wouldn't know we exist and freak out, but here, we can just walk around in broad daylight and nobody will mind."

"I guess this is what being normal feels like," Raph remarked. "Is this how your life was before you met us, April?"

"Oh yeah, totally normal," April responded.

"Alright! Maybe now I can make some human friends!" Mikey cheered. "And they'll be the same age as me!"

"Getting tired of animal friends, little brother?" teased Raph. "Guess I'll have to tell the cat, alligator, and gecko that you're ditching 'em."

"That's not true!" Mikey denied.

"Wait a minute, aren't April and I your human friends, Michelangelo?" Karai questioned.

Mikey thought for a moment before answering, "No offense, Karai, but you're Splinter's daughter, so you're like a sister to me." He then gestured to April. "And I didn't make friends with April; we saved her life, so she's got no choice but to like us."

"Anyway, I wonder if we'll get to see more of this place," Leo said.

"Do you really think they'll let us stay here?" Karai inquired.

"I hope so, I kinda don't wanna leave yet," April stated. "We haven't been here for long but this place already gives off some kind of warm feeling."

While the NY ninjas were chatting Kakashi kept quiet and listened carefully. Nothing they said was suspicious; in fact they sounded like a group of homeless kids who had just been found and were excited about exploring a new place rather than a battalion of ninjas from another village. They didn't seem dangerous at all, but he wouldn't be a ninja if he didn't exercise caution. As they continued to walk, the six kids looked at every building they passed with curiosity.

"Do you think we'll find the place where people train to be ninjas?" Leo wondered.

"Maybe we'll get to see where they make their weapons," Karai suggested.

"I think we should try and find a clothing store first; these robes don't exactly scream 'ninja,'" April said.

"Hey! What's this place?!" Mikey inquired as he entered a random building. Kakashi looked at the sign of the building the child had gone into and his eye grew wide; he quickly grabbed the boy by his mask and pulled him out. "Ow! What the heck, man?!"

"You can't just go wandering into random shops like that!" Kakashi reprimanded the boy. "You might not like what you see. Now, let's continue walking…" He then noticed Mikey's comrades had disappeared. The five other ninja kids had walked into the same store Mikey was pulled out from and began looking around. They saw numerous shelves where plenty of books were stacked.

"I think this is a book store," April noted.

"If so, then this is the best place for us to look for information on our abilities," Donnie theorized.

"Which book do you think would have that?" Karai wondered.

"No clue, there are so many," Leo said.

"What about this one?" Raph suggested as he picked up a strange cover that he couldn't make out, and the five gathered together as the brute of the team opened the book. When it was opened, their eyes grew wide and their faces became as red as Uzumaki hair. The quickly dropped the book and ran outside the shop where Kakashi and Mikey were waiting.

"Hey guys, what's with you faces?" the goofball asked.

"You don't wanna know," Raph replied.

"Let this be a lesson to you: know what you're getting into," Kakashi chastised them. "Now, let's keep going." The Jonin moved on and the five traumatized children followed him along with a confused Mikey.

"I need to pluck out my eyeballs," Raph moaned.

"I'm gonna forget that happened," Leo stated with a shudder.

"Never thought I'd find something to hate in this village," Karai remarked.

"Who would even read something like that?!" April questioned.

"Someone even weirder than Mikey," Donnie answered.

"Hey!" Mikey cried indignantly. "I don't even know what you guys are talking about!"

Eventually, Kakashi led the 6 NY ninjas to the Intel division, and they entered a specific room where they saw a bizarre contraption. It had a single part with strange markings on it and looked like it was meant to restrain a single person while there were three other parts that had places where people would put their hands. Just then, two more men that looked larger than Kakashi walked into the room. The first man wore a large coat and the same headband as Kakashi, only his covered the top of head, but his most distinguishing feature was the two scars that went across his face. The second man wore the same outfit as the first and had the same headband, but it didn't cover his long blonde hair. "Kakashi, are these the kids lord 3rd told me about?" the first man asked.

"Yes Ibiki, Inochi, these are the kids," Kakashi replied.

"I see," Inochi said, and all three ninjas looked at the members of the Hamato Clan with neutral expressions.

"Um, is it just me or are those two acting seriously creepy?" Mikey inquired.

"I'd say it's just you, but these guys are starting to creep me out, too," Donnie agreed.

Kakashi then tried to put on a smile, which only confused the children. "Is he smiling at us?" Leo whispered.

"Can't tell, he's only got one eye!" Raph muttered.

"Okay, now things are starting to get real creepy," April said.

"Agreed," Karai spoke. Each ninja kid reached for their weapons in case they would be attacked.

"Sorry about this kids, but as ninjas, we need to take a few precautions. You understand, right?" said Kakashi to the NY ninjas.

The former mutant ninjas looked at each other with stupefied looks before Leo asked, "Uh, what kind of precautions exactly?" Kakashi placed his hand on the part of the headband that was covering his left eye and lifted up the headband, revealing a three tomoe Sharingan. The 6 Hamato ninjas gazed upon the eye in complete shock for about 30 seconds before they passed out. Kakashi recovered his eye and faced his comrades. "Now you can begin the interrogation," he declared.

At the Hokage's meeting room, the Village leader sat in the middle of a long table with the male elder sitting on his left and the female elder sitting on his right. All the remaining village elders and the heads of the clans in Konoha were seated at different sides of the table. The leaders of the Aburame, Akimichi, and Inuzuka Clan sat on the left table side while the leaders of the Nara, Hyuga, and the Uchiha Clan sat at the right side. For a moment no one said anything; then the Fire Shadow began to speak. "Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here." All of the members nodded. "Well, I'm sure some of you are aware of our village gaining some special visitors."

Fugaku, head of the Uchiha Clan, was the first to reply. "Yes, some of my followers who were on the police force were alerted that the village had intruders, but it only turned to be a group of children."

"Precisely. Six children from the Hamato Clan have wandered into out village, seeking to become ninjas," Hiruzen confirmed.

"The Hamato Clan? That's the ninja clan incapable of using chakra," Shikaku, the head of the Nara Clan, stated. "I thought that clan was wiped out."

"That is true, these children happen to be the remaining survivors," Hiruzen revealed. "Only one of them is a member of that clan by blood; four of them were adopted by the clan's head and the last one was taken in after being separated from her family. Their names are Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Karai, and April."

"You said they came to this village seeking to become ninja, but how can they expect to do that when they can't use chakra?" Chozoa, head of the Akimichi Clan, questioned.

"Apparently, these children have gained the ability to manipulate chakra. They said this ability was given to them by the Sage of Six Paths," Hiruzen explained. Hearing this made everyone in the meeting room go wide-eyed aside from the Hokage and Danzo, who was greatly intrigued.

"Impossible! The Sage of Six Paths has been dead for centuries!" Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga Clan, shouted. "Those children must either be lying or delusional!"

"I know it sounds unbelievable. I barely believed it myself, but I sense that these children are telling the truth," Hiruzen vouched. "Their robes are similar to the ones of the members of the Sage's clan, and we know that the Hamato Clan worshipped the Sage as a god even more than we did. It is likely that he granted these six the ability to use chakra and made them his disciples."

"I still have my doubts, 3rd lord," an elder spoke up. "How can these children be associated with our Shinobi god?"

"But if they are disciples of the Sage of Six Paths, then they must have great potential and they were sent here to be an asset to us," Danzo suggested. "If we just let them go, they could fall into the hands of enemy villages."

"But how do we know that these kids aren't already from an enemy village?" another elder asked. "They could be spies sent to acquire intel."

At that moment, Kakashi Hatake and Inochi, head of the Yamanaka Clan, walked into the meeting room. "Ah, Kakashi, Inochi, thank you for joining us," the Hokage said. "I assume you were successful in scanning the children's memories."

The Jonins nodded. "Yes Lord 3rd, I searched the minds of those children and Kakashi confirmed that the memories I saw were what the children told you," Inochi answered. "However, there is one thing that concerns me. When I tried to search deeper into their minds, an apparition of the Sage appeared and forced me out, saying that I was not allowed to look any further and that all I've already seen is enough to trust his students."

This brought a surprised look on everyone's face. "So, these children really were sent to this village by the God of Shinobi?" an elder questioned.

"It would appear so," Danzo mused. "Which means it would be best if we kept them here and trained them as some of our own; they could prove beneficial to us."

Lord Hiruzen glanced at his old classmate. He knew he could be planning to use those kids or make them weapons of the foundation. "It's clear that these children were presented to us by the Father of all Shinobi, and that it's our responsibility to make sure that they're trained to possess Konoha's Will of Fire. As leader of this village, I move that we keep them here and make them shinobi of this village. Does everyone agree?" The clan heads and the village elders nodded in agreement. "Good. Now there's the matter of their training as well as having them join the academy. Kakashi, take the children to the third training ground and have them spar against each other so that we can evaluate their strength, and give them chakra papers so that we may know each of their elements." The copy ninja nodded before stepping out the door. "Now then, each child has been given the ability of different clans in the village, and the heads of those clans will take care of these children. Akimichi Clan, Hyuga Clan, Nara Clan, and Uchiha Clan, each of you will be assigned to watch over a child." The Clan heads that were named nodded. "As for the remaining two, I will take care of them."

Elsewhere, after being woken up from their interrogation, the NY ninjas were led to a training arena. It had a view of the mountains on the landscape and a large, deep river with forests on both sides. In the center of the field were three stumps in a line. Kakashi led the Hamato Clan to the field and told them to line up. "This is Konoha's 3rd training ground, where genins come to hone their skills," the copy ninja explained. The six children examined the training ground.

"Eh, I think our lair is better," Raph remarked.

"I don't know, I kinda like it," April said. "Wide open space, fresh air; I think it's perfect for training."

"Kinda reminds me of the farmhouse," Donnie noted.

"There are even 3 stumps for practice dummies," Leo pointed out.

"Training here could be a lot of fun," Karai said.

"Alright kiddies, listen up!" Kakashi announced, getting the NY ninjas' attention. The Jonin pointed to each of the three stumps. "We're here to test your skills and see how well your Sensei taught you, and the best way to do that is to have you spar against one another, and the losers will be tied to a stump. As you have noticed, there are 3 stumps, since there are 3 and there are 6 of you that means…"

"There will be 3 one on one matches," Donnie finished. "And the loser of each match will be tied to each stump."

"Smart kid, no surprise if you're of the Nara Clan," Kakashi praised before continuing. "Alright, first up will be the scrawny one with the purple mask and the muscle moron in the red mask."

"Scrawny?!" Donnie shouted.

"Muscle moron?!" Raph yelled.

"Will the two I called please step forward while the others wait by the side?" Kakashi instructed. Donatello and Raphael stepped out of the line and faced each other; the others sat down and waited. "Are you two ready?" Kakashi asked. Each combatant brought their weapons and began to circle each other. Donnie's expression was firm and anxious while Raph's was calm and cocky.

"Relax, Donnie, I'm feeling generous today, so I'll try not to hurt you much," Raph said.

"Gee thanks, guess that'll make it easier for me to hurt you, a lot!" Donnie countered.

"You really think you stand a chance, don't you?" Raph questioned.

"I've beaten you before, and I'll do it again!" Donnie declared as he twirled his staff and pointed it at his brother.

"Heh, I'm gonna enjoy bashing your skull a lot," Raph said as he spun his sais.

Kakashi eyed both fighters carefully before saying, "And…go!" The two brothers rushed at each other. Raph jabbed at Donnie twice but the master of the bo staff blocked both strikes. Donnie then jumped over his brother and threw his staff at his head. Raph got smacked in the head; he flinched, allowing Donnie to retrieve his weapon and charge at Raph again. The brute of the team tossed one of his sais at the brains of the team, pinning one of his hands to a tree. Donnie tried to pull himself free but to no avail. Raph then ran to pound his brother; thinking quickly, Donnie grabbed his staff and thrust it forward, striking one of Raph's feet and causing him to fall to the ground. Donnie then used his weapon to pry the sai from his wrist, freeing himself and gaining some distance from his brother.

"Wow Raph, I'm wiping the floor with you," Donnie taunted. "You must really be going easy on me." Raph growled and grabbed his weapons before charging at his brother in fury. Raph jabbed wildly at his brother, who was effortlessly evading his strikes before jabbing the brute in the gut. "No wonder you couldn't beat Fishface; matter of fact, neither of you are a match for my intelligence." Raph growled before rushing at his brother again. Donnie blocked his blows again and smacked him multiple times in the head; he then knocked the sais out of Raph's hands before knocking him off his feet and onto his back. Raph got on all fours as he was breathing heavily. "Aw, what's the matter, you big green baby? Getting tired of losing?" Donnie taunted his brother again. Raph's breaths got deeper as he stood up; his red hair covered his eyes as he grew angrier.

"Uh oh, he's awoken the beast," Mikey noted.

"Donatello's in for it now," Leo commented.

Donnie swung his staff at Raph's head, but the brute grabbed the stick and glared at his brother. Seeing the angry look on his opponent's face, Donnie gulped before asking, "Went too far, didn't I? And now I'm in trouble, right?"

"You have no idea!" Raph answered before he swiped the bo staff and snapped it in half. He rapidly smacked Donnie in the face with his own weapon. He then knocked the brains of the team onto his back but Donnie reacted by backflipping onto his hands. Raph then dropped the sticks and cracked his knuckles; he charged at his brother, who held up his hands in defense. Raph threw multiple punches and kicks at Donatello; he managed to block a few but was eventually overtaken by his brother's relentless barrage. Raphael gave one final kick and Donatello was knocked flat on his stomach. He then jumped onto his back, grabbed his right leg and started twisting it slightly. "Say it!" Raph demanded.

"I surrender, you win!" Donnie cried.

"Close, but that's not what I want," Raph said.

"I'm very sorry?" Donnie tried.

"Nope, try again!" Raph said.

After thinking for a moment, Donnie finally realized what his brother wanted. "You can't be serious," he deadpanned.

"Does it look like I'm joking?!" Raphael questioned him as he twisted his leg again.

"Ow, ow! Okay! Okay! I'll say it!" Donatello yelled. "Raphael is all wise and powerful!"

"And?" Raph urged him.

"And he's better than me in every possible way!"

"And?"

"Aw, come on, Raph, don't make me say that!" Donnie begged.

Rah twisted his leg again before repeating, "And?!"

"Ow! And I'm a lowly worm beneath his feet that isn't fit to live on the same planet as him because he's so awesome and I'm so sadorable!" Donnie said rapidly.

"You're almost done, D, just one last thing," Raph told him.

"Please don't make me finish it, bro!" Donnie pleaded.

"Sorry bro, but you roll the dice, you pay the price!" Raph said as he twisted his leg again. "Now finish it!"

"And in the history of the universe there's never been…" Donnie continued before he was finally interrupted.

"Alright, that's enough!" Kakashi called as he thought, _"Donatello showed great intelligence by using his brother's weakness against him. Raphael's anger left him unfocused and vulnerable in a fight, but when he got control of it, he became unbeatable. He's currently got the Senju Clan's legendary inner strength and Donatello has shown that his intellect rivals that of the Nara Clan."_ He then said, "Raphael wins! Which means, Donatello, get over to the stump."

"They always stop me when they're about to finish," Raph grumbled as he released his brother and went over to sit with the rest of his comrades. "Don't worry, Leo, when I get you to say it, I'll make sure you'll say everything."

"Dream on, Raph," Leo retorted.

Donatello walked over to the stump on the left and stood by it; he was expecting the Jonin to go over to him and tied him to it with some rope, but for a full second, Kakashi made no attempt to move. Then suddenly, a shuriken was thrown at the brains of the team; it swerved around him and the stump, tying both together with a thin coil that was nearly invisible. "What's this?" Donnie inquired.

"Chakra wires," Kakashi answered before addressing the next two who would be sparring. "Next up are the guys with blue eyes!" Leonardo and Michelangelo stood up, stepped onto the training ground, and faced each other. "Ready?!" Leo pulled out one of his katanas and spun it before pointing it at the goofball. Mikey brought out his nunchucks and did multiple moves before stopping to face his brother. The Hamato leader's face showed clam, control, and discipline while Mikey's showed playfulness. "Ok, begin!"

"I hope you're ready to lose, bro, 'cause you're going down!" Mikey declared, but to his surprise, Leo didn't say anything back. "Uh, aren't you gonna say something back?" he asked. Once again, the leader of the team remained silent. "Ok, seriously dude, why aren't you talking? It's creeping me out!" Mikey exclaimed. Leo still remained silent. "Oh, I get it! You think that just because you're better than me that you don't have to talk to me when we fight, huh?" the goofball accused his brother, who still refused to speak. "Fine, if you won't talk, then I'll make you talk! And the first thing you're going to say is ouch!" Michelangelo charged at his older brother with his nunchucks ready; he swung one of them at Leonardo, who easily dodged. Leo swung his sword at him but Mikey backflipped away. He then tossed the chain from his nunchucks and wrapped it around Leo's blade, but the oldest turtle pulled on the chain, bringing his brother closer to him before kicking him into a tree. "Ouch!" Mikey cried.

"What was that you were saying about making me say ouch?" Leo asked.

"Oh, it's on now, brah!" Mikey shouted as he brought out the blades from his nunchucks. He threw his weapon at his brother, only for Leo to deflect it and charge at Mikey. He swung his sword at the goofy ninja, who backflipped, landed on his hands, and kicked Leo in the face four times before jumping back on his feet. He then started spinning on his back as Leo rushed at him; the katana wielder swung his blade at his brother, but Mikey quickly evaded by jumping onto his feet and bonking Leo on the head. Leo flinched and tried to slash at Mikey again but the goofball bent backward before punching his back. He then ran toward a tree with Leo on his tail. He used a tree branch to swing up and kick Leo in the face. Leo then slashed wildly at his brother, who continued to make a fool out of him by dodging and attacking in an unpredictable way. Leo growled at his brother, who was laughing while he danced.

" _Why that little…"_ Leo thought angrily before stopping to think for a moment. _"Calm down Leo, this is just how Mikey is. He's using you to amuse himself. He's fighting in an unpredictable way so that you'll get angry and lose focus."_ He took a deep breath as he pulled out his second blade. _"Concentrate, remember what Splinter told you: fear nothing!"_ He took his stance and glared at his opponent.

Mikey smirked as he yelled, "Booyakasha!" and charged at his brother who charged at him. The two clashed before Mikey tossed one end of his bladed nunchucks at Leo. The leader in blue deflected the attack and kicked Mikey in the chin. Mikey started swinging his nunchucks rapidly at Leo, who simply blocked every assault with his swords. Leo then threw one of his swords at Mikey; the goofball bent backward to avoid it, but when he stood straight again, he was met with a punch to the face courtesy of Leonardo. "Not cool, brah!" Mikey cried. Leo then put his remaining sword away and took a fighting stance. ( **A/N: The one he took when he fought controlled Karai while poisoned in Deadly Venom.** ) "Oh, so now you're fighting me without your swords?!" Mikey shouted. "Fine, that'll just make it easier for me to beat you!" Mikey rushed at his brother with his weapons ready, but as he did, the veins around Leonardo's eyes became visible. Mikey attempted to whack his brother in the head, but Leo grabbed his wrist before palm striking him in the chest. Mikey grunted in pain, allowing Leo to strike him multiple times before kicking him away.

Mikey then pulled out six shurikens and threw them at the ninja leader. Leo brought out his katana and used it to send the throwing stars back at his little brother. Mikey quickly ducked and the metals stars flew over his head heading toward the stumps; four were planted in two stumps each while two almost struck Donnie, but Kakashi grabbed them at the last second. _"Nice craftsmanship,"_ the copy ninja thought as he examined the shurikens.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing those things!" Donatello cried.

"Sorry D," Mikey said before he was struck by Leo again. Mikey quickly recovered and rushed at Leonardo again; he threw multiple punches at him, but Leo managed to block them all before kicking Mikey in the chest. The youngest turtle quickly ran behind his brother and tried to kick the back of his head; however, Leo detected the sneak attack and quickly ducked while kicking Mikey in the chin. Mikey landed on his knees and was breathing heavily while Leo retook his stance. Mikey slowly got to his feet and charged at Leo again. He tried to punch him, but Leo grabbed his fist before palm striking him in the chest. Mikey landed on his back but got back up and used his chains to restrain Leonardo's arms. "Ha! Let's see you hit without your arms, bro!" Mikey challenged his brother. Instinctively, Leo grabbed the chains with his hands, and in that instant, his chakra traveled through the chains toward Michelangelo; when it hit him, the goofball found himself incapable of moving. Before he could ask what was happening, Leo freed himself from the chains and ran toward Mikey. He struck Mikey's stomach with both of his palms enhanced with chakra, causing Mikey's entire body to flicker as he fell on his back. "Huff… huff… a-alright Leo, you win," Mikey admitted defeat, ending their fight.

"Since Michelangelo can no longer continue, that means Leonardo wins!" Kakashi declared. "And that means the goofball gets tied to the stump."

Leonardo stared at his hands as the veins around his eyes disappeared. _"What was that sensation? That power? Is this what the Hyuga ninjas are capable of?"_ he thought before he went over to his brother and offered his hand to help him up. Mikey accepted it and was pulled to his feet. "Dude… that was so awesome! You totally aced me!" Mikey exclaimed.

Leo was glad that his brother wasn't too down about losing. "Don't sell yourself short, Mikey. You pretty much had me during the beginning of the fight," he said as he smiled.

" _Michelangelo fights in an unpredictable manner; he's childish and focused at the same time,"_ Kakashi thought. _"Leonardo is strong in both mind and body; he's fearless and possesses great talent."_ He watched as Leonardo sat down with the others while Mikey stood by the stump on the right; after a second passed, the goofball found himself restrained by the same chakra wires used on Donatello. "Okay ladies, you're up!" Kakashi announced. The kunoichis stood up and stepped onto the battlefield before facing each other.

"This brings back memories, doesn't it, Karai?" April inquired.

"Yeah, like how we first met," Karai answered. "I won't let you catch me off guard like you did that time."

"And you'll see that I won't be as weak as I was at the time," April assured as she brought out her tessen.

"Using your favorite weapon again?" Karai noted.

"Yes, your father gave this to me when I first became a kunoichi," April responded. "Now that I'm starting a new ninja path, I'm using the first weapon I received when my last path started."

Karai nodded as she brought out her blade. "Let's see how well you'll do against me now that we're on equal terms," she challenged.

Both girls smirked at each other as they took their stances; all of the males could feel the tension between the two. The wind was blowing as the two prepared to face off. One of the leaves in the trees fell off and slowly sank to the ground; the moment the leaf touched the grass in between the kunoichi, they ran toward each other with their weapons ready. _"Those girls sure are anxious; I didn't say go yet,"_ Kakashi thought. Karai swung her blade but April grabbed her wrist; the redhead attempted to strike the black-haired girl in the face but Karai blocked the attack. The two pushed against each other until Karai broke their struggle and lifted her leg to kick April, which the redhead blocked with her fan. April then countered by punching Karai in the face. Karai reacted quickly by landing on her hands and kicking April in her left cheek. The two regained their postures and smirked again. "Not bad, O'Neil." Karai complimented her comrade.

"I'm just getting warmed up!" April assured her. She ran toward her opponent and swung her tessen at Splinter's daughter. Karai countered with her own blade and continued to clash with their weapons. Eventually, April tossed her metal fan at Karai, knocking her sword out of her hand. She quickly kicked her away before picking up Karai's blade and catching her own weapon as it swerved back into her palm. April then held out both weapons ( **A/N: Just like she did when she first met Shinigami.** ) and rushed at the Foot Clan leader.

Karai got up and assumed a new stance as she braced herself for April's attack. ( **A/N: The stance she took when she first fought the Foot bots.** ) When April was right in front of her, Karai jumped over her before flipping in the air and kicking April in the chin. The redhead shook it off and tried to slash at Karai again, but the Foot Kunoichi reacted by uppercutting her. April landed on the floor and growled; she swung her hand backward, hoping to smack Karai with her tessen, but the black-haired ninja grabbed her wrist and tossed her over. April stood up and found that her razor fan was missing, only to see Karai fanning herself with it while wearing an arrogant smirk. "What's the matter, robe slowing you down?" Karai taunted her. "Don't tell me that's the best you can do!"

"Not even close!" April answered as she tossed Karai's blade aside and took her stance. Hamato Miwa understood what she was doing and did the same with the tessen.

"Hand to hand combat?" Karai asked. "Just how I like it!"

"Then stop talking and let's go!" exclaimed April.

The female ninjas ran toward each other again and clashed arms; they traded blows repeatedly, each fighter giving and receiving. Karai hand chopped April, who elbow bashed her in return. April palm struck Karai and was met with a gut punch from her opponent. As the two continued to beat each other to a pulp, Karai began to slowly wear down while April fought as though she had plenty of stamina left in her. _"Hmm, looks like the Uzumaki girl has this fight in the bag,"_ Kakashi thought. _"That Uchiha doesn't have the same amount of stamina as her opponent. She won't last much longer; she'll eventually tire out."_ Karai's movements were starting to get slower than April's, while the latter began hitting the black-haired girl harder and faster. When she stopped attacking, Karai was breathing heavily while barely managing to stand. "Sorry sister, but this fight ends now!" April declared before she dashed toward Miwa; the redhead positioned herself as she prepared to use an advanced move that her Sensei taught her.

"Oh, it's really over now! April's about to use the Dragon's Tail!" Donnie stated.

"Go April!" Mikey cheered.

April spiraled her body and thrust her right foot to kick Karai, who remained unstill at first. When April's foot came close to Karai's face, everyone's eyes grew wide at what they saw happen: at the last second, Karai managed to duck her head, avoiding the kick and uppercutting April in the chin. _"What the..?"_ April wondered as she glanced at Karai, who had retaken her fighting position. _"She was barely able to stand a second ago, so how did she do that?!"_ April then picked up her tessen and opened it up. _"Let's see her do that again when she can't see me!"_ She swung her fan, creating a sand dust wall that consumed Karai. April charged at her opponent and came up behind her to deliver a hard punch, but before she could, Karai grabbed her fist. April backed away in surprise as her comrade turned around, giving April a glimpse of her eyes, which now held red pupils with one tomoe. The next thing the redhead knew, she was sent flying out of the sand dust and landed on her back. "April!" Donnie cried. Karai slowly walked out, revealing her awakened Sharingan.

" _The Sharingan! Her visual prowess has awakened in the heat of battle, like a true Uchiha,"_ Kakashi observed.

"Whoa! Karai got her Sharingan again!" Leo pointed out.

"This should be interesting," Raph commented.

April got up and wiped her cheek. "Don't that just because you've got your Sharingan that I'm going to back down!" she exclaimed.

"Then show me what you've got, O'Neil!" Karai said.

The Uzumaki girl charged at the Uchiha girl and threw multiple blows at her, but Karai's Sharingan allowed her to read April's movements and predict her next attack so that she could counter or block it. Now it was Karai who was on the offensive and April who was taking the beating. April's greater stamina and strong will allowed her to continue her assault but she was slowly tiring out against Splinter's daughter. After a few more minutes, Karai ended their fight by kicking in the chin, knocking her unconscious and onto her back. "April!" Donnie shouted. He tried to rush to her side and help her, but the chakra wires were too strong and kept him restrained.

"Relax, Donnie, April's fine!" Raph told his brother. "She Splinter's student, and like us, she can take a few hits!" Donatello sighed as he was forced to calm down. He knew Raph was right, but he was still concerned for the redhead.

"The winner is Karai, and that concludes the sparring matches!" Kakashi announced. Karai then exhaled deeply just as her Sharingan faded and she grasped her face. _"She's still too young to be able to fully utilize her visual prowess,"_ he thought as he watched Splinter's daughter approach April, who had just woken up, and offer her hand to her. April smiled as she took it and was pulled to her feet.

"Thanks," April expressed her gratitude before frowning. "So I lost, huh?"

"Yes, but you put up a great fight," Karai praised her. "You had me beat there before the end; you've got incredible stamina, April."

"You were pretty tough to take on," April said. "The next time we fight, things will be different, and your eyes won't work as a trump card against me!"

"I look forward to it." Karai smiled.

April smiled back before walking over to the center stump, where she was immediately tied to it by Kakashi's chakra wires. "Nice job, April, you were great out there!" Donnie complimented her.

"Thanks, D," April replied.

"Alright! Congrats to the winners, and to the losers… better luck next time," Kakashi said; his last comment made April, Donnie, and Mikey frown at him. "Now it's time for us to return to the Hokage's office for further instructions. But first, I have something for each of you." The mirror shinobi brought thirteen sheets of small paper; he held one between his fingers and poured chakra into it, the paper immediately wrinkled in response. The NY ninja watched in astonishment and wonder. "These are chakra papers," Kakashi explained as he released April, Donnie, and Mikey from the stump. "They respond to your chakra, and each response represents the kind of chakra nature or element you possess." The Hamato Clan nodded in understanding. "The paper in between my fingers wrinkled, which is the reaction you get when your chakra nature is lightning."

"So, you can use lightning to attack?!" Leo inquired.

"Well, it's my primary element, but I can use others," Kakashi replied. "There are five main elements in total: Earth, Fire, Lightning, Water, and Wind. The papers absorb chakra to determine which element you have. If your element is Earth, the paper crumbles. Fire, it burns. Lightning, it wrinkles. Wind, it splits into two, and if it's water, it gets soaked." He then handed two sheets of paper to each ninja child. "Each of you will focus your chakra into the papers to find out what elements you have."

"Then why do we have two papers?" Raph questioned.

"In case any of you possesses a secondary chakra nature," the Jonin answered. "The ones in your right hand will determine what your primary element is while the one in the left will determine your secondary element. There are some shinobi who are capable of using more than one elemental attack due to possess more than one chakra nature."

"I see, so if we possess two different chakra natures, we'll get two different reactions from the chakra papers," Donnie theorized.

Kakashi nodded. "Now, close your eyes and concentrate on your chakra." Each ninja child obeyed the Jonin's instruction. "Feel it flowing through you and direct it toward your hands." Soon, everyone's right hand was glowing blue from channeling their chakra; the papers then absorbed their chakra and gave different reactions. Mikey's paper split in two, as did April's. "April and Michelangelo, your chakra nature is wind. This particular element is an offensive kind and is able to cut, sever, and slice through anything and generate a large, concussive force to overwhelm foes," Kakashi explained. "Wind attacks combine brute force and keen precision in order to deal cutting and slashing damage."

"Awesome!" Mikey cheered before holding his hand up to April. "Up high, sister!" April high-fived him.

Kakashi then examined the others; Donatello and Raphael's paper crumbled. "Donatello and Raphael, you possess the chakra nature of earth. This element is particularly meant to allow the user to manipulate the surrounding earth for offense and defense. With it, you can change the strength and composition of the earth from being as hard as metal to as soft as clay, and you can change the density to be light or heavy." The brothers fist bumped as Kakashi looked over at Karai, whose paper burned to ash. "Karai, you possess the chakra nature of fire. No surprise really since all Uchiha usually possess fire. Fire is created when your chakra is superheated and released through the lungs and mouth and can be used to perform long-range offensive attacks that cause combustive and explosive damage." He then glanced at Leo's paper and his eye widened slightly when he saw that it had wrinkled like his did. "Leonardo, it seems you have lightning as your primary chakra nature. Lightning is formed by increasing the high frequency vibrations of your chakra for piercing damage and fast movement. With lightning, you can paralyze your enemies and immobilize them for finishing blows. Fire, lightning, and wind can be used to enhance you weapons."

"Swift and deadly, huh?" Leo said. "Like a true ninja!"

"Hah! I always knew I was unstoppable!" Mikey shouted. "Learning to use this element will be a _breeze_!"

"I always enjoyed pounding my enemies into the ground, and now, I can use the earth to do just that!" Raph remarked.

"My Sensei told me to be strong like the mountain," Donnie mused. "Guess I'll get to see how that truly feels now."

"I'll be sure to master the art of playing with fire," Karai said. "So I can watch my foes burn!"

"Now I can kick butt using the force of wind!" April exclaimed. "And my tessen is the perfect weapon for that!"

"Alright kiddies, settle down," Kakashi said, getting their attention. "Now it's time to see if any of you have a secondary element, and if so, what it is. Focus your chakra into the paper in your left hand; if you only have one chakra nature, you'll get the same result as the first. If you have another, you'll get a different reaction. Now give it a try." The NY ninjas nodded before doing as instructed; just like the first time, their hands started emitting chakra before the paper absorbed it. Donnie and Mikey's paper gave them the same results, confirming that they only had earth and wind as their element, respectively. April's paper, on the other hand, was suddenly soaked in water. "Congrats April, you possess a second chakra nature, and that is water. Water style jutsus are cast by controlling pre-existing water or creating your own with your chakra. You can change the water's shape and state as well as increase its density and viscosity to either capture foes or inflict massive internal damage."

" _Water and Wind huh?"_ April pondered as she glanced at her chakra papers. _"Well, I've use both back in New York, so I guess it's time to take it up a notch."_

Next up was Karai, whose paper wrinkled. "Karai, your second chakra nature is lightning. Fire and lightning, two powerhouses." Karai smirked. After her was Leonardo, and his paper split in two sheets. "Leonardo, your second chakra nature is wind. You possess two elements specifically meant for cutting." Leo smiled at this. Last but not least was Raphael; his paper burned to ash. "And Raphael, your second nature is fire." Raph raised his arms and cheered.

"I'm actually surprised that fire wasn't your primary," Leo commented. "You know, 'cause of your temper."

"Sensei always said his temper was an uncontrollable fire," Donnie added.

"More like an inferno just ready to erupt," Mikey said.

Raph glared at his brothers. "Are you guys trying to get me to hurt you?!" he asked.

"What's the matter, Raph? Getting _fired up_?" Leo mocked.

"Do we _enflame_ you?" Donnie asked.

"Feel ready to _explode_?" Mikey laughed.

Before Raph could attack his brothers, Kakashi coughed to get their attention. "Now that you know your chakra natures, it's up to you to learn the jutsu of that element. If you do, you'll be able to cast Justus like this…" He weaved hand signs, ending with the snake hand seal; he then slammed his palms on the ground and shouted, **"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"** A large brown wall with four dog heads on it emerged from the ground. The NY ninjas stared at the wall in amazement. "Or you can something like this…" Kakashi went on as he did another display of hand signs that finished with the tiger seal. He then took a deep breath and announced, **"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"** before letting out a giant blaze of glory. "Wow!" the kids exclaimed as the fire made contact with the mud wall. Kakashi turned to the kids and smiled. "And if you work hard enough, you can even invent your own Jutsu… like I did." Kakashi demonstrated more hand signs before grasping his right wrist with his left hand; his right hand suddenly started emitting lightning bolts while letting out a chirping noise. **"Chidori: 1000 Birds!"** he declared before charging at the mud wall with great speed. He thrust his lightning charged hand forward, jabbing the mud wall and creating a massive hole in it. The six Hamato Clan members stared at the copy ninja with their mouths hanging open as his Jutsu faded.

"Holy Jaloopa!" Mikey cried. "That was…that was…"

"Awesome!" Raph exclaimed.

"Sick!" Leo shouted.

"Amazing!" April yelled.

"Fascinating!" Donnie remarked.

"Wicked!" Karai declared.

"Dudes, this is totally a level 11 Booyakabunga!" Mikey said.

Kakashi turned to them and smiled like what he just did was nothing. "Alright children, it's getting late. Let's head back to the Hokage's office. Tomorrow, you kids can head to the library to study things about the Shinobi world and then start your training if you want. Now let's go, lord 3rd is probably waiting for us," he told them. The NY ninjas got up and followed him back to the Hokage's office.

At Lord Hiruzen's office, the six Hamato members walked into the Hokage's office with Kakashi. Lord Hiruzen smiled when he saw them come in "Ah, children, I hope you enjoyed your first day in Konoha," he said.

"It was great, third lord! Though there were a few minor setbacks, in the end we enjoyed ourselves," Leo answered as his team nodded in agreement.

"Excellent. Now, there's something you must know," Hiruzen continued. "I wish to keep the info about the six of you being members of a rogue clan outside the village a secret. So, your surnames will be changed to that of the clan you're a part of. Understood?" The former Hamato ninjas nodded. "Good. Now, the six of you will each be put under the care of the clans you possess the abilities of in order to avoid suspicion. The Clan leaders are already aware of the situation and are here to take you to your new homes. First up is Leonardo; you will go with the head of the Hyuga Clan," Hiruzen explained. "Hiashi, please come in." The Hyuga leader soon stepped into the office. "This is Hiashi, head of the Hyuga Clan. He will take you to the Hyuga compound."

Leo stepped forward and bowed to the head of his Clan. "Greetings sir, it's an honor to be a part of your Clan."

Hiashi took no regard in the boy's humble gesture and said, "Let's get going boy," before exiting the office.

"What's up with that guy?" Raph questioned.

Leo shrugged. "Don't know, better do what he says so that he doesn't get angry," he said before heading toward the exit and waving bye to his comrades. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Next, Karai, you'll go with the head of the Uchiha Clan," Hiruzen said. Fugaku then walked into the office and stood before Karai. "This is Fugaku, head of the Uchiha Clan; he'll be in charge of you, Karai." Karai bowed to the Uchiha head, who simply nodded before leaving with Karai following in pursuit. "Michelangelo, you'll go with the Akimichi Clan's head, Chozoa." The leader of the Akimichi Clan walked into the office with a smile on his face.

"Hey dude! What up?" Mikey said before Raph slapped his head and he bowed humbly to Chozoa.

"Nice to meet you, young man," Chozoa replied. "I think I'm going to like you." The two then left the office.

"Donatello, you'll go with Shikaku, the head of the Nara Clan," Hiruzen went on. The Nara Clan's leader then entered the office and approached Donnie. The smart turtle bowed to Shikaku.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," he said.

"Likewise," Shikaku responded before the two left, leaving just Raph and April with the Hokage.

"And finally, Raphael and April. Unfortunately, neither of your clans are here in this village, but there is someone I want the two of you to stay with. He's a bit lonely and in need of a few companions," the 3rd lord told them. At that moment, a Chunin with brown hair, dark skin, and a scar across his nose walked in. "Iruka, did you bring him?"

"Yes lord, he's here," Iruka sighed in exhaustion as he pulled on a rope. When what was tied to the other end of the rope came through the door, April and Raph were surprised to see the blond-haired troublemaker they met earlier was the one being dragged in.

"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, OLD MAN?! I HAVEN'T EVEN CAUSED ANY TROUBLE AGAIN YET!" the boy screamed at the Hokage, who just stared at him with a neutral expression. "I WAS JUST ABOUT TO ENJOY A NICE BOWL OF RAMEN BY MYSELF WHEN SUDDENLY YOU SEND IRUKA-SENSEI TO DRAG ME HERE FOR NO…" He stopped shouting when he noticed the two redheads staring at him. "Hey," he greeted them.

"Hey," they greeted back.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki," Hiruzen introduced him. "He's the one I told you about. Naruto, these are April Uzumaki and Raphael Senju… your new cousins and roommates."

 _Then the lights came on_

 _Brighter than ever before_

 _Can you see them shine?_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

 _Won't let them fade_

 _This city's meant for much more_

 _Gonna hear us shout_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

...

 **A/N: And done! Aw man, this took a while to finish! I actually lost some sleep trying to get this down, but it was worth it! I think people will like this chapter; I put a lot of work into it! The next chapter will be mostly about the turtles, April, and Karai adjusting to their new lifestyle, and then we move on to the beginning of the series. I'm getting excited here and I'm the one writing it! Thanks to my favorites, followers, and reviewers, and if you wanna know who'll be on a team, just look at the winners and losers of this chapter (no offense to any April, Donnie, or Mikey fans out there, 'cause I know my sister will be very mad with me for what I did to April. Sorry but had to do it for the story). Stay tuned for the next Chapter of Go Ninja, and send your reviews! BTW does anyone know the K** **ekkei Genkai for wind and lightning and fire and lightning? I couldn't find it, so if anyone knows or has a suggestion for it, tell me please! Until then, TTFN AntiHero out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Go Ninja, go, Go Ninja! Hey there, AntiHero here! Thanks so much to those who reviewed this Fanfic, and much gratitude to Saisaici – The Helper for the link you sent me to where I can get more combined elements for my story. Now to get on with the story, and I've got big plans for what's going to happen in the future! But let's focus on the present chapter for now. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer – I do not own TMNT or Naruto**

* * *

 **Chapter 4 -New Clan Members  
**

Naruto stared at the two redheads with a confused look on his face, while April and Raph glanced at each other before looking back at the knuckleheaded ninja with curiosity. "COUSINS?! Since when did I have cousins?!" Naruto questioned abruptly. "I thought you guys said I didn't have a family?!"

Lord Hiruzen let out a breath of smoke before answering, "Well, they're directly from your family, but April is of the Uzumaki Clan just like you are, so that makes her your distant relative. And Raphael here is a part of the Senju Clan, who has close relations with the Uzumaki Clan. Since neither of their clans are currently taking refuge in our village, I though they could stay with you. I'm sure you wouldn't mind the company."

Truth be told, Naruto didn't mind having company, but he wasn't exactly going to lower his head and express gratitude to the old man or his teacher. "Yeah, whatever, old man, I don't mind. I've got plenty of room if no else will take 'em," Naruto replied as he put his hands behind his head. "As long as they don't slow me down; a great ninja like me can't afford to have stragglers."

" _Us_ slow _you_ down?!" Raph exclaimed in disbelief. "Listen Whiskers, while you're running around wasting time playing stupid jokes on everyone on this place, _we'll_ be training to become the greatest ninjas in existence. If anything, you'll be slowing us down, so you should do yourself a favor and stay out of our way!"

The blond lowered his arms as he frowned at Raph. "I can see why no one would take green eyes here; he's got such a loud mouth!" he remarked.

Raph suddenly grabbed Naruto by his shirt. "Wow, I didn't think there could be anyone more annoying than Mikey, but you're just begging me to pound you into the ground!"

Naruto glared at the redhead as he grabbed his shirt back. "You don't know who you're messing with, punk! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage!" he declared. "So you'd better back off!"

"Future Hokage? Sounds like he's just as crazy as Mikey, too," Raph commented. "And I'd be happy to knock some sense into you, free of charge!"

"You really think you can take me on?!" Naruto asked as he moved closer to Raph.

"I'll take you with one hand and one leg tied behind my back!" Raph answered as he moved closer to the troublemaker; the two kids pressed their heads against each other while growling. Iruka placed his hand against his head and sighed before he approached the boys and separated them.

"Boys, you shouldn't fight. You're supposed to be roommates, so just try to get along" he chastised them. Naruto and Raph glared at each other one more time before turning their heads away in disgust.

"I'm sorry about Raph, Lord Hiruzen," April apologized to the Fire Shadow. "He's a bit of a hothead."

"Hey!" Raph protested.

"That's alright. I'm actually surprised to see someone with the same short temper as Naruto," Hiruzen responded.

"What'd you say, gramps?!" Naruto yelled.

"To get back on track, the three of you will be living in Naruto's apartment for the time being," Hiruzen went on. "You'll receive money for food and clothing tomorrow, and Naruto will show you around town and take you to any place you're interested in. Just try to get along; think of it as the three of you being on a three-man genin team." **(A/N: No, these three will not be on a team together; tempting, but not happening!)** The three kids nodded to the village leader. "Iruka, please take these children to their home," the Hokage instructed the Chunin. Iruka nodded and gestured for the kids to follow him. After they left, Lord Hiruzen placed his pipe in his mouth and thought, _"I hope Naruto can at least make friends with those kids. After all, they don't know the truth about him yet."_

Moments later, Iruka was leading the two Uzumakis and the Senju kid through the village; Naruto was walking right behind the Chunin while April and Raph were behind him. As they were walking, many of the villagers were sending nasty looks their way, specifically at the blond troublemaker. April noticed this and got Raph's attention. "Hey Raph, does it seem like the people here are giving Naruto nasty looks?" she whispered to him.

Raphael glanced around and answered, "You're right, but it's not surprising. I'm sure he's caused a lot of trouble with all of his pranks."

"No, it's more than that," April corrected. She then closed her eyes and reopened them. "I can sense many negative emotions from them, like fear, anger, and hate. I can even sense murderous intent from a few."

"You're right, even I can see that now without psychic powers," Raph growled. "And those looks are starting to tick me off."

April placed her hand on his shoulder to ease him. "They remind you of how the people of New York treated you and your brothers, don't they?" she asked, and he nodded in response. "But why would the villagers despise one of their own so much?"

"Could he be a mutant, too?" Raph suggested.

"I don't think so, he looks pretty human to me," April said.

"So do you, Miss Kraang/human hybrid," Raph pointed out.

"Fair point, but I can sense mutants, and Naruto definitely doesn't feel like one," April told him. "So what else could it be?"

"Who knows, but whatever it is, he shouldn't be hated this much by his own people," Raph said. The four continued to walk as more and more people glanced at the knuckleheaded ninja with spite; they started whispering amongst themselves thinking they couldn't be heard, but April and Raph could hear them…as could Naruto.

"Hey, those new kids are with that child," a villager whispered.

"Yeah, I feel sorry for them, having to be stuck with the fox brat," said another.

"He's got no family; he doesn't deserve to have one or friends."

"It's bad enough that Lord Third has allowed the Nine Tails kid to live here, but now he's making other kids be around him," a villager grumbled angrily. "After what he did to us all those years ago, he shouldn't even exist!"

"Shh, we're not supposed to discuss that, remember?"

"I know, but someone should still warn those kids that being around the demon fox is dangerous."

" _Fox brat? Nine Tails kid? Demon fox? Why are these people talking about Naruto like this?"_ April wondered. _"I don't get it; what could Naruto have possibly done to get an entire village to hate him? He's just a little kid!"_ The Chunin and the three kids eventually stopped at a small store; Iruka went inside to but something after asking the kids to wait out side for him. Not long after he did, two Chunins walked up to the children; they glared at Naruto, making him flinch back in fear, and his cousins raised an eyebrow.

"Hey kids, just wanted to warn you that you should stay away from the Fox brat," the 1st Chunin advised. "He's a real troublemaker."

"So we've heard, but we're his new roommates, so we kinda need to stick by him," April replied.

"Listen, girlie, we're trying to help the two of you," the 2nd Chunin said. "You don't know anything about this kid; he's dangerous!"

"Look, pal, I may not much about this kid, but I don't care!" Raphael stated. "He may be annoying, even more annoying than my brother, but he doesn't deserve to be treated like this, especially from his own village!" Naruto stared the Senju kid with a surprised expression, as did the two Chunins, while April stood next to the brute and nodded.

"You kids are making a mistake," the 1st Chunin warned as he reached for a Kunai. "You'll be better off if you just let us kill…" He stopped talking due to his shock at Raphael bringing out his sais and twirling them and April pulling out her Tessen and opening it.

"We'll take our chances," they said as they stood defensively in front of Naruto.

"You're really gonna defend that kid from us?!" the 2nd Chunin questioned. The two NY ninjas didn't answer but held their positions. The Chunins sighed before saying, "Then both of you should be prepared to take his beating for him!" The Chunins then walked closer to the three kids, yet Raph and April continued to stand their ground while Naruto looked terrified. Before they could attack, a shuriken landed in front of the Chunins' feet, getting them to turn to the right. Their eyes grew wide when they saw the Mirror ninja of the Hidden Leaf standing where the shuriken had been thrown from with another one in his left hand and a small book in his right. "K-Kakashi Hatake sir!" the Chunins saluted the Jonin while quickly hiding their weapons.

"What's going on here?" the Mirror ninja inquired without looking up from his book.

"W-We were just warning these two k-kids about the blond-haired o-one," the 1st Chunin stammered. "We all k-know he likes to cause tr-trouble."

"Indeed," Kakashi agreed as he glanced at the children. "Well then, consider them warned. Now, I believe the two of you have work to do? You should get to it right away."

"Yes, sir!" they complied before disappearing.

Raph and April put their weapons away before facing Kakashi. "Thank you for helping us, sir," April thanked.

Kakashi nodded to her. "You're welcome, though I should be thanking you for sticking by Naruto's side," he said.

"It's no big deal," Raph replied. Just then, Iruka came out of the store carrying three large cups of instant Ramen.

"Kakashi, why are you here? Is everything ok?" Iruka asked inquisitively when he saw the Jonin.

"Everything's fine, Iruka, just take good care of these kids," the scarecrow advised the Chunin.

Getting the message, Iruka nodded. "Don't worry, I'll keep a good eye on them," he assured, making Kakashi deadpan at him. "Sorry, bad choice of words," he apologized after realizing what he said. The copy ninja then disappeared and the four continued toward Naruto's apartment.

"Uh, hey guys," Naruto spoke shyly, getting April and Raph's attention. "Thanks… for sticking up… for me," he expressed gratitude.

The Red Stripe nodded. "No problem. After all, the future Hokage shouldn't let some villagers treat him like that, right?" he asked while holding his fist out to the blond. Naruto stared at the fist for a while before bumping it with his own. April then placed her hand on her fellow Uzumaki's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Naruto, as your cousins, we'll always stand beside you," she promised while smiling, making him smile too, when April suddenly found herself inside a dark room. There was water or a liquid substance that came up to her feet as she stood before a large cage door with a paper seal on it. As she looked inside, she saw numerous things swishing around in the cage before a red eye suddenly opened and stared at her. A low growl was heard and the girl was snapped back into reality; she recoiled and grasped her head.

"April, you ok?" Raph asked in concern.

April shook her head before saying, "Yeah, it's just been a long day and I'd like to get home to get some rest."

"Well, don't worry, cuz, we're almost there," Naruto said. The four finally made it to their destination, and Iruka then handed the instant ramen to the children before leaving. Naruto led the three to his apartment room; he apologized to them if it was a little untidy, but they said it was actually much cleaner than Michelangelo's old room. Naruto offered his bed to one of them, but the two agreed that since it was his home that he should keep the bed. April was given the couch while Raph was fine with sleeping on the floor. The two waited as Naruto prepared the instant ramen for them and immediately had dinner before going to bed.

* * *

 **The Uchiha compound**

Fugaku led Karai into a large compound, and as they entered, the young Kunoichi noticed many Jonins and Chunins wearing the symbol of a fan with the top half being red and the bottom half being white. She saw that same symbol on Fugaku's sleeves. The Uchihas bowed to their leader with respect as he and Karai passed by. The two stopped at a long house with the Uchiha crest on it, and Fugaku opened the doors and gestured for the girl to enter. She walked around, inspecting the home of the Uchiha head, when she spotted a picture frame hanging from the wall. Fugaku stood on the right end of the frame crossing his arms while wearing a stern look, beside him was a little boy about her age who was smiling, next to him was a pretty woman who was also smiling, and on the left end was a young man, probably in his teens, wearing a blank expression. Fugaku noticed Karai staring at the picture. "My family. My wife and my two sons," he explained.

"It's a lovely picture," Karai commented.

Fugaku nodded before walking away. "Come, my wife's in the kitchen preparing dinner," he told the girl. Splinter's daughter followed the Uchiha head to the kitchen, where she saw his wife cutting some ingredients. Mikoto, we have a guest," he said, getting the mother's attention. She turned around and saw the new Uchiha girl. "This is Karai Uchiha; she's going to be staying with us."

Mikoto smiled at the young girl. "Aw, she's adorable, and I've always wanted a daughter." She walked up to Karai and greeted her. "Hi there, sweetie, it's nice to meet you."

Karai bowed to the mother. "It's nice to meet you, too. Thank you for welcoming me to your home."

"You're quite welcome, Karai," Mikoto replied. "I hope you're hungry, dinner's almost ready."

"Mikoto, where are the boys?" Fugaku inquired.

"Well, Itachi took that mission where he had to take out that giant wild boar that's been damaging homes, remember?" Mikoto reminded her husband. "And Sasuke… went with him."

"What?! But it's too dangerous! Why would Itachi allow Sasuke to go with him?!" Fugaku questioned.

"He didn't," Mikoto answered. "Itachi told Sasuke to stay here and went on the mission alone, but you know how Sasuke is." Fugaku sighed before nodding as he knew what she meant by that. "He clearly followed his big brother, and since he hasn't returned yet, he must've caught up to Itachi. Even with Sasuke there, it shouldn't take Itachi long to complete his mission, so they should be back pretty soon. I just hope they're alright, especially Sasuke."

"What am I gonna do with that boy?" Fugaku asked. "He always seems to be following his older brother."

"He just likes spending time with Itachi," Mikoto said. "He really idolizes his big brother."

"He needs to step out of his brother's shadow and learn to be his own person," Fugaku responded.

"He just wants to prove himself to Itachi… and to you," Mikoto stated. "He's a good boy; strong-willed, hardworking, and he never gives up."

"He doesn't need to prove anything to anyone, I know he's very talented," Fugaku said before he gave a small smile. "Still, at least he's working toward being a great ninja." Mikoto smiled at her husband just before there was a knock at their door. "Come in, boys!" Fugaku ordered, and the Uchiha brothers walked into the house and made their way into the kitchen, where they were greeted by their mother, father, and house guest. "Boys, say hello to Karai Uchiha. She's gonna be living with us from now on," Fugaku explained to his sons.

Itachi walked up to Karai and smiled warmly at her. "I'm Itachi Uchiha, it's nice to meet you," he greeted her.

Sasuke soon came up to her and introduced himself. "And I'm Sasuke Uchiha, pleased to meet ya and hope you enjoy your stay!"

"Thanks, and likewise," Karai replied.

"By the way, your name Karai… that means severe, right?" Itachi inquired. "Doesn't sound like the name for a cute little girl."

"Well… Karai's not my real name, it's just what people are used to calling me," Karai explicated.

"So what is your real name?" Sasuke asked.

"It's… Miwa."

"Miwa… that means harmony," Mikoto said. "That's a lovely name for a beautiful girl."

"Thank you, but I'd prefer if you didn't tell anyone else about this. I still go by Karai," the Kunoichi requested.

"You're secret's safe with us, Karai," Itachi assured the girl.

"Alright, everyone wash up and get ready for dinner! I'm making an extra special meal to celebrate our house guest!" Mikoto announced. A few minutes later, everyone was gathered around the table with a plate of food in front of them and they all began to chow down.

"This food's delicious," Karai remarked.

"Thank you, Miwa," Mikoto said.

"So boys, how did the mission go?" Fugaku asked.

"It was a success!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Big brother managed to take down that giant boar all on his own! He was amazing!"

"Is that so?" Fugaku asked with a smile. "Not surprising, even amongst the Uchihas you show extraordinary shinobi skills." Hearing his father praise his brother made Sasuke a little jealous; the younger son lowered his head in shame, which was noticed by Karai and Itachi.

"Thank you, father, but I couldn't have done it without Sasuke's help," Itachi replied, surprising his family. "He distracted the boar, which allowed me to take it out quickly. He's also improved in archery."

Fugaku looked at Sasuke, who shrank back a bit. "Nice work, Sasuke," he praised with a small smile. Sasuke looked at his father in surprise before smiling too as his older brother ruffled his hair. Karai smiled at the warmth she felt from this family.

"Father, tomorrow Sasuke and I are going to train together," Itachi announced, to which Fugaku nodded.

"May I join you?" Karai inquired.

"Sure," Itachi agreed.

"Hey, big brother, why don't we introduce her to Izumi and Shisui?" Sasuke asked.

"Who are they?" Karai wondered.

"A couple of Itachi's friends," Mikoto answered. "That's a good idea. You barely spend any time with them, and it's about time you did, Itachi."

"Yes, mother," Itachi agreed. "So Karai, we'll be going around one o-clock, meet back here by then." Karai nodded and the Uchihas went back to eating. After eating, they all went to bed; Karai was offered to take Sasuke's room while he shared with Itachi, but she declined and simply took the living room couch.

* * *

 **Hyuga compound**

Hiashi took Leonardo to a large compound; there he spotted many people with eyes similar to his and Hiashi training in hand to hand combat. He also noticed that some of the Hyuga members were wearing bandages around their foreheads, but he dismissed it as them still recovering from past injuries. The two stepped inside where they saw many Hyuga sitting on the floor. They were gathered around and watching a sparring match between two small Hyuga girls. The girl on the defensive was the older one; she had short hair with two bangs at on each side of her face. The girl on the offensive was the younger one; her hair was dark brown and longer, with a single strand hanging over her face. Both were wearing black shirts and pants, as was a slightly older boy that was watching from the sidelines. Every time contact was made by the girls made in the fight, streams of Chakra were released.

"Watch closely," Hiashi instructed the Hamato leader. Leo nodded and gave his full attention to the Hyuga battle. He observed that the younger girl was relentless, confident, and possessed greater talent. He looked at the older girl and saw that although she was hesitant, she was also persistent and determined in her strikes. Eventually, the older girl managed to gain the upper hand when she sidestepped the younger girl's attack and struck her in the face. The younger girl flinched and the older girl saw her chance to deliver the finishing blow, only she didn't take it. The girl's face showed confliction as she only stared at her opponent; the younger girl regained her bearings and thrust her palm at the older girl, who snapped out of her confliction in time to block it. The younger girl was once again back on the offensive, with the older one showing even less willingness to strike her down than earlier. The younger Hyuga finally defeated her opponent by striking her hard in the chest, knocking her onto her back.

"The winner is Lady Hanabi!" a Hyuga that resembled Lord Hiashi but was much older announced. Hiashi sighed as he was approached by the younger girl. "Excellent work, Hanabi, your performance was flawless," he praised the girl.

Hanabi bowed respectfully to Hiashi. "Thank you, father," she said.

Hiashi then turned to Leo and introduced him to Hanabi. "This is my 2nd daughter, Hanabi. Hanabi, this is Leonardo Hyuga."

Hanabi looked at Leo with a surprised expression. _"A Hyuga who's not from the village? How can that be?"_ she wondered. She quickly got over her confusion and bowed to greet the head of the Hamato clan. "Nice to meet you, Leonardo, welcome to our clan."

Leo bowed in return. "Thank you, Hanabi." He was then led to where Hinata and her cousin Neji were sitting. Hiashi's 1st born carried an expression full of shame and timidness while Neji had an uncaring look.

"This is my 1st daughter and heiress to the clan, Hinata, and my late brother's son, Neji," Hiashi introduced the children to Leo.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Leonardo said.

"N-Nice to meet you t-too," Hinata greeted back. Neji didn't say anything, earning him a glare from Lord Hiashi. The Hyuga Elder then approached them.

"So, this is the boy the Hokage sent us," he mused, and Hiashi nodded to confirm. "Shall we begin the marking process?"

"Hold on, father, I would like to see what this child can do first," Hiashi suggested. "Hinata, come!" The Hyuga Heiress stepped toward her elders and Leo; Hinata stood before Leonardo with a nervous look on her face. "Leonardo, you'll have a sparring match against Hinata so that we may see how skilled you are," Lord Hiashi explained. "Be sure to come at each other with the intent to win, don't hold back!" Both children nodded to him, and as Leo went to the side to put down his weapons, Hiashi grasped Hinata's shoulder and instructed her, "Show him what it means to be a member of the Hyuga Clan!" Hinata nodded as Leo appeared in front of her. Hinata took the gentle fist stance, so Leo, recognizing this as the clan's signature fighting position, decided to take the same stance. _"So he plans to use this fight to learn our clans fighting style, smart boy,"_ Hiashi thought, Hinata's Byakugan immediately activated, as did Leonardo's. _"He can use his Byakugan already?"_ He then raised his hand and brought it down while shouting, "Begin!" For a moment, neither child made any move, and then Hinata rushed at the NY ninja. She started by thrusting numerous palm strikes at the boy, who instinctively dodged them while being pushed back.

" _She's quick and precise in her strikes,"_ Leonardo observed as he continued to evade. _"She's not just going after my weak spots, she's trying to strike my chakra points that she can see with her Byakugan. This style of fighting kinda reminds me of the pressure point combat that Splinter showed me. So maybe I can use that to fight back."_ Leo then started throwing jabs at Hinata while deflecting her attacks, forcing her to take the defensive. Everyone watching stared in surprise that this newbie was gaining the upper hand on their heiress.

"This Leonardo is quite adaptable," the Hyuga Elder noted.

"Yes he is, father," Hiashi agreed.

"This new kid's not bad," Neji remarked. _"Still, even Hinata could defeat him despite her weakness."_

" _Come on Elder sister, don't lose!"_ Hanabi thought anxiously.

The two opponents continued to jab at each other until Hinata sidestepped Leo and struck him in the back, making him fall forward. She prepared to hit in the base of his neck but didn't go through with it. She once again stared at her opponent, who was now looking confused before he used his feet to kick Hinata away. She backflipped and landed on her feet just as Leo rushed at her this time. He struck her twice in the chest and was about to do it a third time, but seeing her troubled expression made him withdraw his attack. Hinata threw a palm strike at him which he blocked with his arms. The heiress then jabbed his gut a few times, making him stagger. Leo managed to sidestep her next attack before striking her back, but she quickly shrugged it off before facing Leonardo and ending the fight with a strong palm strike to his chin. Leo fell on his back while Hinata was breathing heavily.

Hiashi placed out his hand and declared, "Hinata wins the match!" Leo sat up and rubbed his chin as the heiress approached him.

"A-are you a-alright?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You're pretty good," Leo replied to the heiress.

"T-Thank you, you too," Hinata said.

All of the other Hyuga members were conversing with each other on their thoughts about the sparring match. "Wow, the new kid put up a good fight," one member commented. "Almost thought he was gonna win for a second."

"Kid's a fast learner, he managed to learn the gentle fist in a short time," another member pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's got nothing on Lady Hinata."

"Right, that's to be expected from our clan's heiress."

Hanabi then ran up to her older sister and hugged her older sister. "That was amazing, elder sister! You won!" she praised Hinata, who smiled and patted her head.

Neji then came up to Leo and said, "Not bad, Leonardo. Although I don't know much about you, I can tell you're going to be an impressive Hyuga."

"Thanks, Neji," Leo responded.

"Perhaps the two of us could have sparring match someday," Neji suggested a little eagerly.

"Count on it!" Leo agreed.

Lord Hiashi and the Hyuga Elder looked at each other before glancing back at the four Hyuga children. "Leonardo showed impressive combat skills, and his ability to adapt in quite impressive," the Elder observed. "However, he seems to have a certain weakness. He hesitates when his opponent is down or at a disadvantage, just like Hinata."

"So it seems, hopefully the training they will endure here will help to eliminate those weaknesses," Hiashi mused. "I believe it would be wise if Leonardo was tasked with protecting Hanabi. With him by her side and Neji by Hinata's, those four could become the strongest Hyuga members in existence."

The Hyuga Elder nodded to his son before his face became serious. "But first, he must receive the mark to ensure that he will be of use to us," the Elder said before calling Leo over. "Leonardo Hyuga!" Splinter's son immediately left his new clan members and went over to Hiashi and the elder. "Come with us, boy," the elder instructed. Leo nodded before following the elders to a different room. The Hyuga members all had uneasy looks as they knew what was going to happen to the boy; the main household looked down in sorrow while the cadet branch had angry looks on their faces. Hinata and Hanabi held their hands together in discomfort and Neji clenched his fist, feeling tormented.

 **(A/N: I don't know how the Hyuga curse mark placement is done and I don't think it was ever revealed; if it was, then I haven't seen it. So, I'm just gonna go with how I think it works, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)**

Lord Hiashi and the Hyuga elder led Leonardo to a dark room that was only lit by a three candles, and in the center of the room was a large green circle with numerous Chinese letters around it. **(A/N: Think of the Yin-Yang circle that appears whenever Neji uses the 64 palms.)** TheHyuga elder instructed Leo to enter the circle and he complied obediently; Hiashi then stepped in front of the NY ninja and cut his own hand, drawing out blood and confusing the boy. The Hyuga leader started writing different signs with his blood, starting from the circle on the boy's forehead to the center circle in the room. Hiashi repeated this six times, creating six different seals all connected to Leo's forehead. _"Is this…some kind of ritual?"_ Leo thought as he watched Hiashi weave many hand signs. The Hyuga elder kept a neutral expression as he watched his son press his palm against Leonardo's head. All the blood writing was suddenly sucked into Leo's forehead; the boy winced in pain as Hiashi removed his palm, revealing a green X with a hooked line on its right and left side. The mark on his forehead started glowing, making Leo grasp it in pain, and after a few minutes he fell unconscious.

Some time later, the Hamato leader woke up in the Hyuga infirmary. The first thing he saw was a woman with short, dark green hair, and wearing a full-length kimono with a white apron on top. She also had a forehead protector around her head. "How are you, young Hyuga?" she inquired when she noticed he was awake.

"My head's throbbing, but I'll be fine," he replied. "I'm guessing you're a Hyuga, based on your eyes."

The woman nodded. "My name is Natsu Hyuga. I treated your injuries," she told him.

"Thank you. So, what exactly happened to me?" Leo questioned.

Natsu looked away in sadness before answering, "Lord Hiashi preformed a certain sealing justu that placed a cursed seal on your forehead, which will allow them to damage or destroy your brain cells if you become a threat. It also seals away your Byakugan after your death to prevent it from being used again."

Leo sat up and touched his forehead, and he felt a bandage wrapped around it. "Is that why I saw some members wearing bandages around their foreheads? They were branch members with this cursed seal?" he asked her.

Natsu nodded. "The branch members tend to hide their seal, but they can never hide what they truly are: expendable servants who will forever be bound to the main household. Their bodies may be strong, but their minds will always be under the control of Lord Hiashi and the main household, it's their destiny." she said.

Leo then pulled the bandage off his head, surprising Natsu; he picked one of his swords beside him and unsheathed it. He stared at the reflection of the cursed seal on his forehead before closing his eyes and reopening them. "If that's the case, then I'll just have to make the main household see that the cadet branches aren't servants or a threat, but members of their clans. That we're more than just servants," he declared with determination.

Natsu stared at the boy with a surprised look. There was then a knock on the room door. "Come in," she said, and the heiress of the Hyuga Clan entered the infirmary carrying a tray of food, wearing a nervous look on her face. "Lady Hinata!"

Hiashi's daughter slowly approached the son of Splinter, placed the food beside him and asked, "A-are you alright, L-Leonardo?"

"I'm fine, Lady Hinata, thank you for asking," Leo answered.

"Um, I-I would prefer if you called me Hinata," the heiress said.

"Only if you call me Leo," he offered.

Hinata nodded. "My father wanted me to tell you that you'll start training under my teacher, Ko, tomorrow around one," she informed him.

"Thank you, I look forward to it," Leo replied.

Hinata then noticed his new cursed seal. She touched his forehead and felt sad, but she saw that he clearly wasn't bothered by the seal at all, which confused her since all branch members seem to despise this mark of their inferiority and servitude. She then started twiddling her fingers as she felt nervous about asking him something. "Um Leo, can I ask you something?" she asked, and he nodded in response. "When we were fighting, you had a chance to strike me down, but you didn't take it. Why?"

"I could ask you the same question," Leo countered, making Hinata flinch. "As a beginner in the Hyuga style of fighting, I was at a big disadvantage against you, and I knew you would eventually find an opening and take it, but you didn't." Hearing the words from his observation caused to look down in shame. "Guess we both share the same weakness, although in your case, it's 'cause you don't like fighting, while I just don't like attacking a weakened foe much." Leo then smiled at the heiress and placed his hand out to her. "I think we can help each overcome our weaknesses. It'll take a lot of training and determination, but I know we can do it! What do you say, Hinata?"

Hiashi's 1st born stared at the new Hyuga in astonishment; even if Leo was new, he was still a member of the cadet branch, and even after finding out that he's meant to be a servant to her and the main household, he was willing to help her. She could only hope that future mistreatment wouldn't change him as it did her uncle and cousin, and she accepted his hand and smiled back.

Natsu smiled at the interaction between the two Hyuga children. "Alright, that's enough for today. It's getting late, and Leonardo needs to rest for tomorrow. Lady Hinata, I'll escort you to your room."

"Good night, Leo," Hinata said as she bowed.

"Good night, Hinata," Leo responded as the two Hyuga ladies exited the infirmary, leaving the Hamato head alone. Leo ate his food before going straight to sleep.

* * *

Elsewhere, Choza was strolling through town with the incredibly inquisitive Michelangelo; the goofball of the team was constantly asking the Akimichi leader questions about pretty much anything he could think of. "So, what does you clan do? What kind of jutsus can you use? Where can we get something to eat around here?!" The Akimichi leader simply smiled at the child before answering his questions.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait for your training before you find out what our clan can do," he replied. "As for food, we're almost there." The two were approaching a barbecue diner, where they saw a small boy, who resembled Choza, munching on a bag of potato chips.

"Hey Pa, you made it in time!" the boy exclaimed before he noticed Mikey. "Who's the kid with ya?"

"Choji, this is Michelangelo, he's a new member of our clan," Choza introduced the two boys to each other. "Michelangelo, this is my son, Choji."

"What up, buddy?!" Mikey greeted Choji.

"Nice to meet ya," Choji greeted back while offering his chips to the boy. "Want some chips?"

Mikey graciously accepted the food and chowed down on a few. Choza smiled as his son made friends with the Hamato ninja. "Alright boys, let's go in for some real grub!" The boys quickly followed the head of the Akimichi clan with famished expressions; they passed many tables where people were gobbling down pieces of meat. The three sat down at an empty table and Choza gave the waiter his order; seven plates with stacks of meat on them were brought to their table. The Akimichi boys stared hungrily at the food with their mouths open. "Ok boys, it's time to dig in!" Choza announced. "I hope you've brought your appetite, Michelangelo!"

"Aw, yeah, son!" Mikey shouted in excitement. All three Akimichis grabbed their chopsticks and began shoving numerous pieces of barbecue meat into their jaws. Choza and Choji were a little surprised that Michelangelo could eat just as much as they could. Each eater gobbled down two plates of meat and was now chomping on the seventh plate. When there was only one piece of meat left, they all stared intensely at each other as they slowly reached for it. Choji then slammed his fist on the plate, launching the meat into the air; he tried to grab it, but his father got to it first. Before he could place it in his mouth, a chopstick knocked it out of his hand. Mikey quickly caught it, and popped it into his mouth, happily munching on it as he retrieved the chopstick he threw.

"Booya… kasha!" Mikey exclaimed after he finished eating.

"You've got quite an appetite, Mikey," Choji noted. "You're gonna fit in real well in our clan!"

"Thanks, brah! Now, when's the next course going to come?" Mikey asked.

"Sorry boys, but it's time to head home," Choza told the boys. "Tomorrow, we start Michelangelo's training, where he'll see what the people of our clan are capable of." The boys followed the Akimichi leader and exited the barbecue shop. As they were walking, Mikey remembered that he had one more question to ask.

"By the way, is everyone in the Akimichi clan…" he started to inquire before he was cut off.

"Fat?! Are we all fat?!" Choji interjected, sounding a little ticked off.

"We prefer the term pleasantly plump," Choza said. "And yes, everyone is pleasantly plump in our clan."

"Pleasantly plump people power up!" Choji declared.

"I was gonna say graciously gluttonized, but yours is so much better!" Mikey said happily. And on that note, the three continued on their way home.

* * *

With Donatello, Shikaku took the brains of the team to his home; sitting on the doorstep was his son Shikamaru, staring into space as he saw his dad and Donnie approaching. "Do you know how much of a drag it is to wait for you, especially when you're late?" he asked his father.

Shikaku sighed. "She upset?" he asked.

"Furious is more like it, such a drag to listen to her like that," Shikamaru groaned before he questioned. "So, who's the kid?"

"Name's Donatello, he's the newest member of our clan," Shikaku replied, getting his son to stare at the NY ninja. "Donatello, this here's my son, Shikamaru. A smart but lazy boy," the Nara leader introduced the kids to each other.

"Nice to meet you," Donnie said.

"Likewise," Shikamaru responded.

"Alright, why don't you boys get acquainted while I go deal with your mother," Shikaku suggested before he stepped inside his home. The boys heard some yelling which made Shikamaru sigh in annoyance. After a few minutes, Shikaku's wife calmed down, most likely from the news of them having a house guest and the boys went inside.

"So, do you play Shogi?" Shikamaru inquired. The two went inside to play Shikmaru's favorite game; after teaching the NY ninja how to play Shogi, they played a few games, with Donatello only winning two and Shikamaru winning five. **(A/N: Yeah, I don't really know much about the Akimichi Clan or the Nara Clan which is why there's not much for me to write on them. Besides, I just wanna get on with the real story.)**

* * *

Late at night, all of the villagers in Konoha were fast asleep while some Chunins and Jonins were completing missions. In Naruto's apartment, the two boys were sleeping soundly while April's face expressed discomfort.

 **Naruto's psyche**

The Uzumaki girl found herself in a sort of tunnel with numerous entrances. _"What is this place?"_ she wondered. _"What's with all this water? Wait, this isn't water, it's… chakra!"_ April started walking down the tunnel when she suddenly sensed something ominous; she followed it through the pipeline until she made it to the source. She shivered as she felt the vile chakra coming from behind the giant barred cell door. _"It's that cage from my vision, what could possibly be in there?"_ Just like in her vision, there were nine objects swishing around inside the cage, but this time two red eyes appeared to be staring at her.

" _ **Who are you? You're not the blond runt, so how can you be here?!"**_ the prisoner questioned April.

"Um, I don't know how I got here, or where here is exactly," April replied.

" _ **Doesn't really matter now, does it,"**_ it continued to say, its voice deep and menacing. _**"Why don't you step a little closer to the cage, girl?"**_ Despite how intimidating the creature was, April couldn't refuse his request; she took a few steps, slowly moving closer to the cage door. _**"Yes, that's it. Come closer."**_ April continued to walk until she was standing directly in front of the cage entrance when a giant claw suddenly slammed against the bars, startling the Uzumaki girl. _**"Damn it! This cage is sealed shut, I can't get through yet! Curse this seal that binds me!"**_ the creature shouted in fury.

"Hey, what were you trying to do?!" April questioned.

" _ **I was trying to devour you, but the seal on this prison will not allow me to escape!"**_ the prisoner answered with a sneer while still clawing at the bars. April squinted her eyes as she managed to get a glimpse of what the prisoner really looked like: an enormous orange-furred fox with long ears and hands to replace its front paws, but the most significant thing about it was the nine tails it had swinging around.

" _A giant fox… with nine tails?!"_ she thought as she gazed at the fox in awe.

" _ **Enough of your staring, brat! Tell me what you want from me!"**_ the Kyubi demanded.

"I'd like to know how I got here, but I don't think you can tell me that," April said. "So, I'll just settle for who or what you are, and how or why you're being imprisoned."

" _ **I am the Kyubi, the nine-tailed fox, the strongest of all the tailed beasts!"**_ the prisoner declared. _**"I was sealed here by the Fourth Hokage at the cost of his life and my freedom, and he did it to stop me from destroying this village!"**_

"But what exactly is this place?" she asked.

" _ **This place is my holder's mindscape and is nothing more than a prison for me, but I will break out of here eventually, and then this brat's body will be mine!"**_ the fox declared. " _ **Then I will finish what I started and eradicate all of humanity and those who seek to control my power, including you, girl!"**_

"But I don't want to control your power!" April exclaimed.

" _ **Bah! As if I'd accept the word of a human! You're all the same to me: selfless beings that label me and my brethren as monsters who are meant to be tools!"**_ The water/chakra around April's feet started turning red as the Kyubi's hatred was corroding it; it filled up the whole room, consuming April as it took the form of the fox spirit. " _ **Mark my words, I will escape, and if I ever see you here again trying to steal my power, I will devour you and my jailer completely! This cage won't hold me forever, and when I am revived and my power is fully restored, you will all feel my WRATH!"**_ The Nine Tails let out a fearsome roar that caused April's body to slowly disintegrate.

The Kraang human hybrid woke up with a jolt as she was breathing heavily form her frightening encounter with the Kyubi. Her breathing woke up her comrade, who was sleeping on a floor mat right beside her. "April, what's the matter?" he questioned sleepily.

"Um, it's nothing," she lied while grasping her head. "Just a nightmare, but I'll be fine. You should go back to sleep."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Raph said before fell back asleep.

April lay back down to try to resume sleeping, but she couldn't stop thinking about her meeting with the Nine Tailed Fox. She could sense that the beast was filled with the emotions of hate, malice, and rage, but what affected her most were the pain, anguish, and solitude she could sense from deep inside him.

* * *

The next morning, the six Ninjas of New York were exploring Konoha; they all received some ryos from their caretakers (for April and Raph, it was from the third Hokage) to buy a little food and new clothes. They walked through the streets of the hidden leaf village until they stopped at the village library. After reading a few books and scrolls (though Raph and Mikey kinda slept), they decided to head to a clothing store. The six walked in and went up to the front desk where the store owner was. "Hello, children, what can I do for you today?" she asked.

"We were hoping to buy some new clothes here, ma'am," April informed her. "Can you help us?"

"Of course, dear, I think you'll find much better clothing suited for the six of you," the owner replied. "Feel free to have yourselves a look around."

The mutant ninjas nodded in gratitude before they went to look for clothes. The boys went to the male section while the girls went to the female section. Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey picked out simple T-Shirts in the colors blue, red, purple, and orange, respectively, along with black pants and sandals. April picked out a yellow shirt and skirt while Karai a black shirt and pants along with a small jacket. They glanced at themselves in the mirror and decided that these new clothes would do for the time being, so they went over to the counter to pay for their clothes.

"Alright kiddies, that'll be 120 ryos each, but since this your first time here and you're all such adorable little munchkins, I'll drop it down to 100 ryos," the store keeper said.

"Perfect, we'll take it!" April said gratefully. They all handed the clerk their money before heading toward the door. "Thanks again, ma'am!" she said before leaving.

The six continued their detour through the hidden leaf village, spotting several Chunins and Jonins jumping off rooftops with great speed. "I sure do miss going on missions as a full-on ninja," Karai remarked.

"Tell me about it! When we accepted this opportunity, I was kinda expecting a lot more action!" Raph complained. "I didn't agree to just observing this place as an adorable child!"

"Calm down, Raph, it's like Master Hagoromo said: we have to learn all we can about this ninja world if we want to save it from destruction," Leo said. "We need to focus on training and mastering these new techniques."

"Besides, now we all get to start our training on the same level," Donnie stated. "Makes it easier to determine who the best is."

"Yeah well, you guys are just wasting your time, no matter where we start from, we all know who the best is," Raph said with overconfidence as he put his hands behind his head. "It's meee… aaah!" he cried in pain as Leo grabbed the side of his head.

"Yeah Raph, you're the best… at being obnoxious," April muttered.

Leo let go of his brother and they continued walking, when Mikey spotted something in the distance. "Guys, look at that!" he told his comrades as he pointed to another shop with a sign that had three different colored sweets in the shape of balls on a stick.

"Looks like a shop that sells sweets," Donnie noted.

"Let's check it out!" Mikey exclaimed. He didn't wait for their answer before rushing over to the store. The others sighed before following him. When they got to the store, they saw someone standing by the window, the number 1, hyperactive, knuckleheaded ninja, Naruto Uzumaki. The blond shinobi seemed to be staring at the store with uncertainty and nervousness. "Hey, you're that prankster kid we saw in the Hokage's office. What up?" Mikey greeted the Uzumaki.

"Oh, hey April, Raph, and the other kids not from the village," Naruto greeted back.

"How do you and Raph know this guy, April?" Donnie asked inquisitively.

"Guys, meet Naruto Uzumaki, our cousin and roommate," April introduced the blond to her friends. "We're staying at his place."

"Another Uzumaki? So he's from your clan?" Leo asked April, and she nodded.

"So, what are you doing here, Whiskers?" Raph inquired.

"I was… just looking at the kinds of sweets they have here," Naruto answered truthfully. "I've never tasted them before."

"Well, why don't you go inside and buy some if you're interested?" Karai questioned.

"Yeah, we're going in for some sweets. Why don't you join us?" April invited the boy.

"Uh well, I'm not usually welcome here," Naruto replied. "People always seem to leave whenever I'm around."

"Cool! That means there'll be no lines for us to wait on! Now you're definitely coming with us!" Mikey said before he grabbed the prankster and rushed inside; the rest of the Hamato clan shrugged before following the two inside the shop. The moment they stepped inside, the customers spotted Naruto and glared at him before getting up and leaving in disgust or fear. The only one who didn't move from their spot was a fairly tall woman with a slender frame, light brown pupil-less eyes, and violet colored hair that was in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh body suit that went from her neck down to her thighs, a tan overcoat with purple in-seam and a pocket on each side of the coat, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, pale grey shin guards, the hidden leaf forehead protector, and a small pendant resembling a snake fang. She sat in her seat enjoying her dango with a cup of tea, completely ignorant of what was going on around her.

The seven children walked up to the counter and rang the bell to get the owner's attention. "Hello, would you like to…" the adult began to offer before he spotted the cursed child of the hidden leaf, and his expression instantly twisted into one of detest. "You! What are you doing in my shop, brat?!" he snarled as he questioned the Uzumaki boy.

"I um, my friends and I…" Naruto said unconfidently due to the look the seller was giving him.

The NY ninjas saw the prankster was feeling uncomfortable, so Leo then spoke up. "My comrades and I would like to buy some of your dango to try, please."

The sweets seller ignored the son of Splinter and continued glaring at Naruto while jabbing a finger at him. "You know very well that you're not allowed in my shop, freak!" he shouted. The Turtles, April, and Karai scowled at the man from the way he was calling Naruto a freak, as that was the word commonly used to degrade them and their fellow mutants. "I don't want any pest causing trouble at my shop and ruining business, so get out now!"

The blond ninja clenched his fist as he started to grow angry at how this man was treating him. "But I'm not causing any trouble! My friends just invited me here to enjoy some sweets!" he argued.

"I don't care! No cursed fox brat is allowed here in my shop!" the owner yelled. "I don't understand why the 3rd lord bothers to keep you here when it would easier to…"

"Alright, that's enough!" Leo shouted.

"No one talks to our friend like that!" Raph retorted angrily.

"What right do you have to treat a kid like this?!" April asked with a frown on her face.

"Not cool, brah!" Mikey said.

The shop worker turned to the Hamato children and glared at them as well. "Anyone who sides with this brat is not welcomed in my shop either!" he exclaimed in fury. "All of you get out now!" Suddenly, a dango stick flew past the man's ear and pierced the wall beside him; everyone looked to the direction of where the stick came from. The lady from earlier had her hand in a throwing position. She got up from her seat and walked over to the counter, her eyes were covered by her hair. "Lady Anko!" the man addressed the Jonin.

"What's with all the ruckus, can't a women enjoy her dango in peace?!" she asked.

"Sorry ma'am, I'll have these children kicked out immediately so that you can resume enjoying your sweets!" the man assured.

Anko raised a questionable eyebrow at the man, though he couldn't see it. "Why would you be trying to withhold the excellent taste of dango from these kids?" she questioned. "They can't be that bad, anyone who interested in dango is alright in my book."

"But ma'am, these children have brought in _that_ child with them!" the man insisted. "The one who's always causing trouble!"

The snake Jonin glanced toward the children before saying, "All I see are some children trying to buy some sweets and you're telling 'em no without any real reason; if anything, you're the one causing trouble. Just sell them the sweets without making a fuss."

The shopkeeper glared at the Jonin. "I refuse to sell my products to the fox brat or anyone that sides with him! You must be insane if you think…" He suddenly stopped talking when his eyes met the snake lady's death glare; the man became paralyzed and started trembling with fear when he suddenly felt something whiz past his right cheek. He looked at his cheek to see blood slowly slid down from it before he glanced at the Jonin who held up a kunai knife that was dripping blood.

Anko brought the kunai to her mouth and licked the blood with delight, causing the man and the children to shiver. "I'm sorry, you were about to say something?" she said to the man.

"Uh, no ma'am! I'll get these kids their dango right away, and it'll be on the house!" the seller replied before hurrying away. Anko smirked triumphantly before looking to the kids.

"You're welcome, kids, enjoy this wondrous treat," she told them before leaving to go back to her seat. The Hamato ninjas and Naruto stared at the snake Jonin.

"That lady was wicked," Karai commented.

"More like creepy," Raph muttered.

The shopkeeper came back with the dango and gave one to each of them; the seven kids then left the shop as they were enjoying their sweets, while the Hamato clan was conversing among themselves, with Naruto trekking behind them. "Man, this stuff tastes awesome!" Michelangelo exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, this is really good," April agreed. "It's a shame we might not be able to go back there."

"Why not? Just call that Anko lady and we'll get all the sweets we can eat!" Karai said.

"Are you kidding? That lady was seriously scary!" Donnie argued.

"She kinda reminds me of the foot princess here, troublesome and snakelike," Raph remarked.

Leo turned to Naruto and asked, "So Naruto, why do people treat you like that?" He was surprised to see that the blond was no longer with them. "Huh, where'd he go?"

"Nice stealth, he managed to sneak away without us noticing," Donnie noted.

"Guy's not half bad," Raph said. "I just don't like the idea of him being a prankster."

"Have you lost your shell? I've always wanted to meet a fellow prank artist, and he must be really good if he's got a record for pranking in an entire village!" Mikey stated. "I gotta have him teach me everything he knows!"

"Well, there's a 100% chance those two will get us all in trouble with their pranks," Donnie calculated.

"Well, I think he's adorable, especially with those whiskers. He's like a cat," Karai said.

"I think he's more like a fox," Leo corrected. "That's probably why people refer to him as fox brat."

At that moment, April gasped as she dropped her dango, her mind brought back to her encounter with the Kyubi. _"The whiskers on Naruto's face, they look just like the fox's except much smaller, and I first sensed the Nine Tails' presence when I made contact with Naruto,"_ April thought. _"Nine Tails said that he was imprisoned inside someone's body, could that be Naruto?"_ The more she thought about it, the more terrified she grew as she remembered the darkness she sensed from inside the tailed beast. Donatello touched her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"You okay, April?" he asked.

"Yeah, there's just something I need to talk to the Hokage about," April quickly answered before leaving; her comrades looked at each other in confusion before going after the Kunoichi. The six ninjas eventually made it to the Fire Shadow's office; they got inside quickly and went to see the village leader. Inside his office, Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting at his desk, smoking, while also going through some old paperwork when, the NY ninjas suddenly came in.

"Ah, children, I hope you're enjoying your stay in Konoha," the old man said.

"It's alright, lord Hokage, but April here has something she'd like to ask you," Leo replied.

"Is that so?" Hiruzen questioned as he glanced at April.

"Sir, I would like to know how Naruto Uzumaki is connected to the Nine Tailed Fox," she requested to the Fire Shadow. Lord Hiruzen stared at the Uzumaki girl with wide eyes before sighing.

"How did you find out about the Nine Tailed Fox?" he asked.

April grew nervous as she didn't want to tell lord Hokage about her powers yet. "I… uh… read about it in the library," she answered. "And in the village, I heard a few people refer to Naruto as fox brat; I don't think that's a coincidence. Also, I could sense something dark and powerful deep inside Naruto."

"Wait a minute, what are you guys talking about?!" Raphael questioned. "What the heck's a Nine Tailed Fox?!"

Hiruzen took out his pipe and let out a breathe of smoke. "Listen, what I'm about to tell you cannot be repeated outside this office, understand?" he asked the NY ninjas; they nodded and he continued talking. "The Nine Tailed Fox is one of the nine tailed beasts in this world. Years ago, our village was attacked by this powerful creature and many of our shinobi died that night in an attempt to stop its rampage. Eventually, the Fourth Hokage, in order to protect our village and preserve the future, sealed half of it inside Naruto's body when he was just an infant. Since then, people have always seemed to look at Naruto with hate and fear even though he doesn't know why. This is why he gets into trouble a lot and why he plays so many pranks on people, he wishes to exert his existence to them." The 3rd lord then looked at the children with a serious expression. "Please keep this information to yourselves; the children in this village don't know this which is why they don't look at Naruto the same way the adults do."

"Don't worry, lord Hokage, we won't say anything to anyone," Leo promised him before the six ninja left the office.

"Poor kid," Karai muttered.

"Yeah, he's pretty much got it rough," Raph said.

"Look guys, I'd love to talk about this more but I've gotta get going, my training's lesson are gonna start soon." And with that, the Hamato head left his comrades. The others realized they also had their own training to do, though April didn't and decided to see how Donatello was going to train, who happened to be going to the same place as Michelangelo. Raphael decided to get some training of his own done and went to the third training ground.

* * *

 **The Hyuga compound**

Leonardo appeared in the open training field where he saw Hyuga Neji and another Hyuga member he didn't know waiting. Leo approached the two. "So, you're the new Hyuga of the cadet branch?' the other member inquired. "Nice to meet you, my name's Ko."

"You're Lady Hinata's teacher," Leo stated as he bowed to Ko. "I look forward to training under you."

"Alright, we should get started then. First we'll get you to practice the gentle fist fighting style before we move onto to other techniques," Ko explained. "You'll be sparring with Neji here so that you can learn it at a quicker pace. Ready?"

"Yes, sir!" Leo complied before asking, "Um, Master Ko, I thought Lady Hinata and Hanabi would be here to train with us. Why aren't they?"

"Lady Hinata and her sister usually run off on their own at this time, but they'll be back shortly," Ko answered. "Now both of you, take your stances." Leonardo and Neji obeyed and assumed the same fighting positions as they activated their visual prowess. "Now, begin!" The two Hyugas rushed at each other and clashed.

* * *

 **Uchiha compound**

Karai arrived home were she met up with Itachi and Sasuke, and the two brothers took her to their special training field in the woods where they introduced her to Izumi and Shisui. Karai and Izumi got along pretty quick, kinda treating each other like sisters. Afterward, Itachi demonstrated shuriken techniques and how well he could utilize his Sharingan. Karai and Sasuke began practicing the same techniques with the three older Uchihas supervising them.

* * *

 **Akimichi compound**

April, Donnie, and Mikey got together along with Shikamaru, Choji and Ino of the Yanamaka clan, plus her best friend Sakura Haruno. The Ino-Shika-Cho (Boar-Deer-Butterfly) trio performed their signature techniques and advised the kids to do the same, and although April wasn't supposed to be training, she memorized the mind transfer jutsu so that she could try it on her own later on.

* * *

 **Third training ground**

Raphael entered the training area for genins and was surprised to see a certain blond doing some training of his own. "Hey there, Whiskers, wasn't expecting to find you here," Raph greeted the blond. Naruto looked behind him and saw the brute of the Hamato clan.

"Oh, hey Raph, what are you doing here?" he inquired.

"Thought I'd do some training, take a few shots against these wooden dummies," Raph replied. "But maybe you'd make a better punching bag than pieces of wood!" The red stripe brought out his Sais. Naruto, wanting to blow off some steam from earlier, decided to accept the challenge and brought out two kunai knives. They sparred against each other for hours until they completely tired themselves out, with Raph winning every match. Since he felt sorry for the blond and wanted to spar with him again, Raphael invited him to train with the Hamato clan tomorrow, and Naruto agreed, wanting to hang out with his new friends. Both were unaware that Hinata Hyuga was watching them while unaware that her sister was watching her.

* * *

The next day, every one of the Hamato clan members was practicing the skills they learned from either Kakashi or their clan members. Karai was practicing shuriken techniques, Leo was using gentle fist combat, Mikey the art of expansion, Donnie the shadow possession technique, and April had tried to use the mind transfer jutsu on Raph. They were soon joined by the knuckleheaded ninja, who was at first skeptical and nervous, thinking that they would reject him, but when he saw how open and accepting they were to him, he felt glad and the seven ninjas in training began their journey to become the greatest shinobis in the hidden leaf village.

 _Then the lights came on_

 _Brighter than ever before_

 _Can you see them shine?_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

 _Won't let them fade_

 _This city's meant for much more_

 _Gonna hear us shout_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

* * *

 **A/N: Done! Sorry if the end of the chapter doesn't fit, I was getting bored with writing and wanted to finish it ASAP since I wanted to start the next chapter where we'll be going into canon. The whole purpose of this chapter was for the Hamato ninjas to start their training with their respective clans while befriending members of the Konoha 12, for them to see how Naruto faced unjust prejudice that they can relate to, and for April to meet Yang Kurama. The rest was just left for imagination. Now to move on; you'll get to see what plans I have for this story, so stay tuned 'cause I'm just getting started! Until next time, TTFN AntiHero out!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ok, now to get started on the series itself! Got so much to type and I'm anxious to get started!**

 **Disclaimer – I do not own TMNT or Naruto**

 **Chapter 5**

"HA, HA, HA, HA!" two young boys that were running through the Leaf village laughed while carrying buckets of paint. Pursuing them were two livid Chunins.

"You boys get back here right now!" one of the Chunins shouted. "When I get my hands on you two…!"

"You've both gone too far this time!" the other yelled. The first boy had blond spiky hair, blue eyes, and six whiskers on his face. His outfit consisted of an orange jumpsuit tied around his waist, a black undershirt, a pair of goggles around his forehead, and blue sandals. The second boy had orange, spiky hair and blue eyes as well. He wore a blue shirt under an orange vest with a hoodie, black pants, and two blue wristbands, along with his signature orange mask. These boys were Naruto Uzumaki and Hamato Michelangelo. The young pranksters started jumping across buildings while still evading their pursuers.

"Ha ha! You'll never catch us, losers!" Naruto yelled with joy.

"Dr. Prankenstein and his partner Gigglgor strike again!" Mikey shouted. "This is the greatest prank of all time!"

On the Hokage monument stood the statue faces of the four Hokages, and on those faces were several paintings of tears, blood, words like pizza, pictures of pizza, and many more. "Lord Hokage, it's an emergency!" one of the Chunins alerted the village leader; the old shinobi was busy painting something before he was interrupted abruptly.

"I hope you're not bothering me with something trivial," the old man said. "And don't tell me it's Naruto and Michelangelo again!"

"It is those two again, sir!" the Chunin reported. "They climbed onto the great stone faces and put graffiti all over the Hokages!" The 3rd Hokage sighed, letting out a breath of smoke from his pipe.

The two Chunins continued to chase the boys until they disappeared from their sight; Naruto and Mikey landed on the sidewalk and the older ninjas ran to catch them. Mikey quickly pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at the ground, creating a purple puff of smoke that shielded them from their pursuers' eyesight. When the smoke cleared, the two pranksters were gone. The Chunins looked around and saw nothing, so they left to search elsewhere in the village. Suddenly, the fence on the sidewalk peeled off, revealing Naruto and Mikey in hiding. "Booyakasha! That was so awesome!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, we're unstoppable!" Naruto said.

"You got that right, brah! High three!" Mikey cheered as he raised his hand.

Naruto frowned at his friend. "It's called a high five," he corrected the turtle.

"Not if you have three fingers!" Mikey argued.

Naruto sweatdropped. "But you've got five."

"Just hit me up high, bro!" Mikey said. Naruto shrugged and gave the goofball the high three he wanted; the instant their hands touched, a sai caught their wrists and pinned them to the fence. "Oh no," the two muttered as they looked to where the weapon came from. Standing on a small house were the other five ninjas of the Hamato clan: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, April, and Karai.

Leo wore a navy blue shirt with while lines going down the short sleeves, two straps across his chest in the shape of an X with a metal diamond at the center that held his swords, wrist guards that covered his forearms with metal plates on the back of the hands, black pants and sandals, and his blue mask. Donatello wore a purple short-sleeved shirt, a black jacket with a single strap to hold his Bo staff, bandages around his hands and forearms, black pants, blue sandals, and his purple mask. Raphael's attire consisted of a dark red short-sleeved shirt, black bandages around his hands and forearms, black pants with a belt to hold his sais, and sandals, plus his red mask. April wore a yellow kimono-style blouse with black pants and sandals while Karai wore a short-sleeved, dark kimono-like blouse with a dark embroidered border, held closed with a red obi, a dark short skirt and pants with wristbands and sandals.

The two pranksters gulped as they waited for the other NY ninjas to meet them. "Hey guys, what up?!" Mikey asked in an attempt to act casual.

"Oh, you know, just sitting in class, trying to learn as much as possible at being a shinobi, when we noticed something or some _two_ were missing," Donnie answered.

"I'll give you one guess: they're two spiky haired idiots wearing orange while doing something dumb!" Raph said as he removed his weapon.

Naruto gave an angry look while Mikey looked relieved. "Sounds like a couple of real morons. Well, when you find those guys, teach them a real lesson!" he said. He then started to walk away before he was grabbed by the hood and slammed on the ground by the brute.

"Uh Mikey, they're talking about us!" Naruto clarified.

"Oh."

"You guys need to stop ditching class just to pull some ridiculous prank," Karai reprimanded them. "How do you expect to become great ninjas like this?"

"We are great ninjas!" Mikey protested.

"Yeah, those Chunins couldn't even keep up with us!" Naruto added.

"Wow! You guys really did it this time, huh?" Leo mused as he looked at the Hokage monument. "The Third Hokage's really gonna let you have it."

"Forget that old man, Master Iruka's gonna freak when he sees this!" Raph stated.

"Oh well, then I guess we'd better get going. We'll see you guys later!" Naruto said as he and Mikey tried to sneak away from their comrades, but they were immediately grabbed by Leo and Raph.

"Sorry guys, but Iruka sent us to bring you back to class right away," April said.

"Aw, come on!" the two boys whined as they were quickly tied up and dragged back to the academy. It had been seven years since the NY ninjas met the Sage of Six Paths and had been sent to the Village of the Hidden Leaf, and they used their time to learn about the world while using the chakra they were given to improve their ninja skills. Each of them learned a few jutsu and managed to upgrade their fighting skills; they also made many friends and gained the respect from the clans they were brought to (well, those who still had clans). However, most of the adults still saw them as outsiders, especially since they hung around the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox; but they don't let it bother them. They all got along with Naruto really well and helped him in his training. The blond ninja had bonded with them so much that they felt like he was a member of their clan. Of course, they didn't tell him (or anyone else) the truth about them, but Naruto didn't care; they were the only friends and family he had aside from a few others, and he was cool with that.

* * *

Before long, the seven of them had made it back to the ninja academy, and Mikey and Naruto were dragged all the way to the classroom where their teacher was waiting for them. Their classmates watched as the two pranksters were placed in front of the glaring Iruka before the five that brought them had returned to their seats. "Seriously, why must you two always do this?!" Iruka asked the troublemakers. "I'm practically at the end of my rope with you two, especially you, Naruto!" the Chunin began to scold the blond shinobi. "You failed the graduation exam last year and the year before that! Tomorrow you've got another chance and you're messing up again!" The knuckleheaded ninja simply frowned and turned away from his teacher, making Iruka's glare grow more intense. "Fine! Since you both missed it, everyone will review the Transformation Jutsu again!" Aside from the NY ninjas, all of the students groaned.

Pretty soon, all of the ninjas in training were lined up as they prepared to perform the Transformation Jutsu. First up was Sakura Haruno. "Alright, Sakura here! Let's do it! Transform!" She made a hand sign, and in a puff of smoke, she changed into a perfect replica of Iruka.

"Transformation of me, good," Iruka said as he marked it down. The pink-haired girl changed back before stepping off the line. "Next, Sasuke Uchiha!" The male Uchiha stepped forward and performed the same technique. "Good!" Iruka said as the boy changed back. "Next Leonardo Hyuga!" The leader in Blue stepped forward to perform the Jutsu. Sasuke went over and stood beside Splinter's daughter.

"Nice job, broody," Karai teased her friend; he gave a cocky smile and said nothing. Over the years, the two became very close friends, almost like siblings. Sasuke used to be more open with the girl, but after the Uchiha incident, he changed the way he acted around her and others. Karai could still get him to open up but mostly to her since he believed the last two Uchihas should stick together.

"Excellent!" Iruka said to Leo. "Next, Raphael Senju!" The brute stepped forward as his older brother moved and stood next to Hinata Hyuga, who was glancing at the blond Uzumaki. Leo had grown close to Hiashi's 1st child; they would always train together to improve their Gentle Fist combat. Hinata wasn't as timid around him and Leo always encouraged her to stand up for herself and be strong. However, they still had a habit of hesitating, especially against each other.

"Alright, next, Donatello Nara!" Iruka called. The brains of the team stepped forward while Raph stepped aside. The Red Stripe made quite a reputation for himself during his stay in Konoha; due to his hot temper, his classmates had nicknamed him the Red Fury. Adults had such high expectations of him since he was of the same clan as the first Hokage.

"This is such a drag," Shikamaru moaned.

"We're always paying for your mistakes, Naruto!" Ino said to the knucklehead.

"Like I care!" Naruto shot back.

"Come on, guys, I find it hard to focus in class sometimes, too," April said.

"Besides, what's wrong with trying to have a little fun?" Mikey inquired. April, Donnie, and Mikey really enjoyed their time in the leaf village. The red-haired girl got along with nearly everyone she met and had seen all of Konoha more than any of her comrades. Donatello struggled to show his intelligence in an unfamiliar place with little to no technology or science development, but with the help of the Nara clan, he managed to use his brain power for other things involving decrypting, detective skills, and more. Mikey was known to have one of the biggest appetites in the whole village and the tiniest brain; despite this, he always surprised everyone with his ninja skills. He stayed on par with his brothers and always took his training as seriously as they did.

One by one, every student had performed the Transformation Jutsu perfectly until finally, it was Naruto's turn. The soon to be ninjas left the classroom as Naruto prepared to use the jutsu. As everyone left, the turtles, April, and Karai waited outside for the Jinchuriki. "Mikey, don't think that you're getting away with painting the Hokages' faces," Leo told him. "You and Naruto are going to scrub those silly markings off!"

"What?! No way, Leo!" Mikey protested. "Guys, come on, back me up here! He can't do that, right?"

"Sorry Mikey, we may be starting over as ninjas together, but Leo's still the Sensei of the Hamato Clan," Donnie reminded him.

"Aw man," Mikey whined.

"Ha, ha, ha!" the NY ninjas heard Naruto laughing. "Gotcha! That's my Sexy Jutsu!"

"CUT THE STUPID TRICKS! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!" Iruka yelled at the boy.

The Hamato Clan sighed from outside the classroom. "You guys should head on home, I'll stay with Iruka to make sure these two clean up their mess," Leo said to the others. Moments later, Michelangelo and Naruto were scrubbing the graffiti off of the Hokage stone faces. Iruka and Leonardo sat atop the monument as they watched to make sure the pranksters undid their work. "Aw man, this sucks!" Naruto complained.

"Yeah, these guys have no sense of humor," Mikey agreed.

"Neither of you are going until you've cleaned off every single drop of paint!" Iruka told the boys.

"So what? It's not like there's anyone waiting at home for me!" Naruto shot back.

"What about your cousins?" Leo asked.

"They may be family, but it's not like they're my parents or anything like that," Naruto answered.

Iruka's hardened expression then turned soft as he glanced at Naruto and felt pity for him; Leo and Mikey glanced at each other as they understood what the blond ninja meant. As the two boys continued to scrub, the Chunin called out to the Jinchuriki. "Hey, Naruto."

Naruto looked up with an annoyed expression. "What do you want now, Sensei?" he questioned.

"Well, I was just thinking, after you and you friend clean this all up, I could take you both for some ramen. You know, the good stuff, what do you say?" Iruka asked the boys. He looked down to see the two pranksters wearing goofy smiles while looking back at him.

"Now that's some serious motivation, Iruka Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"We'll have this cleaned up within two shakes of a turtle's tail!" Mikey said as he and Naruto started scrubbing faster.

Iruka smiled as he shook his head. "Care to join us, Leonardo?" he asked the leader in blue.

"Sure, Sensei," Leo decided.

* * *

Night had finally fallen by the time the pranksters had cleaned up their paint from the monument, and now the four sat down at Ichiraku Ramen Shop chowing down on bowls of ramen. "Naruto, Michelangelo," Iruka spoke to the boys while they ate. "Why would you both do that to the Hokage faces? You know who the Hokage are, right?" he asked the pranksters.

"Naruto suggested it to me and I thought it would be funny, so I agreed to do it," Mikey answered. Leo and Iruka turned to Naruto.

"Of course we know who the Hokage are," Naruto replied as he slurped his soup. "Everybody does, they were the greatest Shinobi of their time, right? The best of the best, undefeated ninja champs." He paused for a moment as he thought about the Yellow Flash. "And the Fourth Hokage was the one who saved the village from the Nine Tailed Fox; he was the most amazing." Leo and Mikey glanced at each other as they remembered their shared secret about Naruto.

"Then why did you…" Iruka started to ask again before he was interrupted.

"Because I'm going to be greater than any of them," Naruto vowed. "Me, Naruto Uzumaki! The next Hokage! A ninja legend!" He held out his chopsticks and winked to show his determination. "Then everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and look up to me! Believe it!"

" _He certainly dreams big. And he's got a long way to go if he truly wants to be this village's next leader,"_ Leo thought.

"Um, by the way… I kinda wanna ask a little favor, sensei," Naruto said shyly.

"You want another bowl?" Iruka assumed.

"No, I… uh… I wanna try on your headband, please," Naruto requested.

"Oh, this?" Iruka laughed as he touched his headband. "No way, you can only wear the leaf headband when you finally graduate from the academy and become a ninja. You've gotta pass the test tomorrow."

"That is so uncool!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Is that why you took off your goggles?" Iruka inquired.

"Don't sweat, bro, you'll pass the exam for sure this time!" Mikey assured. "'Cause this time, we'll be taking it with you!"

"You've already taken it twice in the past," Leo said. "If you focus and try your best, you'll succeed for sure!"

"Thanks for the encouragement, guys," Naruto thanked his friends. "Iruka sensei, can I have another bowl?"

"Alright, but just one more," Iruka said.

After everyone finished their bowls of ramen, they all separated to go to their homes. Leonardo and Michelangelo decided to take a midnight stroll across the rooftops together before they would disperse. "That was quite a meal, huh, Mikey? The ramen here tastes way better than it does in New York," Leo commented.

"Yeah, I guess so," Mikey agreed, a little sad.

Leo stopped jumping and stated to his brother, "I know that look, Mikey. Don't tell me you still miss eating pizza?"

"Well, what do you expect, bro?!" Mikey demanded, a little ticked off. "We live in a pizza free world; it's my number one nightmare come true!"

"You'd still have some pizza to eat if you didn't eat all the ones you brought with you!" Leo reminded him.

"It was hard to resist the urge!" Mikey argued. "Pizza calls out to me! It's like they say: the bro's mind is strong, but pizza weakens him!"

Leonardo rolled his eyes. "First of all, the phrase is 'the mind is strong but the stomach is weak,' but with you, both are weak," he said, making Mikey glare at him. "Second of all, you know how to make pizza, so just do that!"

The orange-haired teen's face lit up. "Yeah, I could introduce pizza to this world!" Mikey agreed before he wondered, "Now, how do I do that exactly?"

"You could start your own pizza shop in a few years," Leo suggested. "The more pizza you sell, the more money you make and vice versa."

Mikey thought for a moment before his eyes lit up and he grew a wide goofy smile on his face. "YES! I WILL MAKE THE GREATEST PIZZA SHOP IN HISTORY AND INTRODUCE THE GLORY OF PIZZA TO THIS WORLD!" he yelled with joy before embracing his older brother. "I love you, man, thanks a lot!"

"Alright, let's go call it a night; we've got a big day tomorrow," Leo told him. "See you, Mikey."

"Later, brah!" Mikey responded, and the two turtles split up and went home.

* * *

The next day, all of the ninjas-in-training were getting ready for their final exam at the ninja academy, either mentally or physically. In the Hyuga compound, Leonardo was sitting in the backyard, meditating. His chakra started flowing and he began emitting it throughout his body. "Um, Leonardo?" someone called to him; he opened his eyes to see the Byakugan princess standing before him. "I, um, I just wanted to remind you that we should be heading to the academy soon," she told him.

"Thank you, Hinata," Leo replied before closing his eyes.

"Um, I was wondering," Hinata said, a little nervous. Leo reopened his eyes. "How come you spend a lot of time meditating?"

"Oh, this is just something my master taught me," Leo answered. "It helps to gain spiritual enlightment and I do it sometimes to calm myself or when I want to think about something." He then gestured his hand to a space right beside him. "Wanna try it with me? It'll help calm your nerves a bit." Hinata nodded and went over to sit by the leader in blue; she copied Leo's sitting position and closed her eyes. "Now focus, do not let your attention flitter away from you," Leo instructed his clan member. "All random thoughts are transitory, like dreams. Let them disappear, bask in the emptiness of the void." Leo's body started sparking while Hinata reopened one eye.

"Um, what does that mean?" she asked, a little puzzled.

"It basically means you need to clear your mind and focus on the task at hand," Leo explained. Hiashi's 1st child nodded and closed her eyes again; as she concentrated, her chakra became visible from outside her body, but after a few minutes, her chakra started fading due to her uneasy emotions. "I can feel your chakra disrupting, is something bothering you?" he questioned her.

"I'm just… a little nervous," Hinata confessed.

"It's okay to be nervous about the exam, everyone feels that way sometimes," Leo assured. "I'm sure you'll do great, you don't need to worry."

The Byakugan princess smiled a little. "Thank you, but I didn't mean me," she clarified. "I was, um, referring to Naruto-kun. Iruka sensei said he's already failed twice, so what if he fails again? Then he won't get to graduate from the academy and be a genin with me… or the rest of the class."

Leo nodded in understanding; he knew how the shy girl felt about the Uzumaki boy, so it was only natural that her concern would be about him. "It's true, Naruto has failed in the past and he could fail again," Leo stated. "But he's been training extra hard this year, so I think this time, he'll pass." Leo stood up as Hinata glanced at him. "My father once said, 'there's no such thing as failure until you give up,' and Naruto hasn't yet. So let's not worry that he won't pass; instead, let's be there to support him when he does pass." Leo offered a hand to the girl; she took it and rose to her feet. "Why don't we get going, we don't wanna be late and miss the exam." Just then, Natsu Hyuga walked into the yard.

"You two should get to school, you don't want to be late for your final exams," she advised them.

"Thank you, Natsu, we'll get going right now," Leo replied.

"Good luck, you two, make your clan proud by showing them that you're worthy of becoming ninja," Natsu said encouragingly.

"W-We will, Natsu, thanks again." The two then turned around and ran to the gate before exiting and jumping across building rooftops.

* * *

 **Uchiha Compound**

The leader of the Foot Clan was practicing her swordsmanship skills in her room; she swung her blade through the air with keen precision and excellent thrusts before stopping and putting it back in her sheath. She then made her way over to Sasuke's room. She knocked on his door and called, "Hey Sasuke, it's time to go to the academy!" When she got no answer, she sighed as she realized where her roommate was at the moment. She left the house and wandered through the compound until she came across a locked building. The place had planks of wood and police tape to block the entrance, but there a small gap in the lock that was enough for a person to get inside. Karai stepped into the forbidden house and walked down a dark staircase; when she reached the end, she saw Itachi's younger brother holding a candle while looking down at something she couldn't see from where she stood. "Sasuke…" Karai started to say before he cut her off.

"Time to go?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah."

The brooding teenager sighed deeply and muttered, "Today, I get one step closer to achieving my goal." He then turned to face Karai and walked toward her. "Let's go," he said as he moved past her.

"When are you gonna show me what it is that you keep coming here to see?" Miwa inquired.

"Perhaps someday…" he answered simply as the two left the dark place and headed for the academy.

* * *

Everywhere, students of the ninja academy were making their way towards their school, and pretty soon the room was filled with all of the students that were going to take the final exam and graduate to genin level. In the desks, Leonardo sat with Karai, Raphael sat with Michelangelo, and April sat between Donatello and Naruto. "Who's ready to become a ninja?" Mikey exclaimed.

"WE ARE!" the Hamato Clan cheered. All eyes then shifted to Naruto, who didn't respond while looking nervous.

"Naruto, you're supposed to shout 'we are,' "Mikey whispered.

"Huh? Oh yeah, uh, we are," Naruto said half-heartedly.

"Are you alright, Naruto? You seem a little nervous," April stated.

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay," he lied.

"And by that, he means he's totally afraid that he's gonna fail for the third time in his life," Raph corrected, making Naruto glare at him.

"Don't sweat, bro, you got this," Mikey assured him.

"Actually, the chances of him passing are 1000 to 1since he's already failed in the past," Donnie calculated.

"Nice job, smart guy," Raph muttered as he smacked his brother on the back of his head.

"Look Naruto, you can do this! You said you wanted to be the Hokage, so you can't let this exam get in the way!" Leo encouraged.

"Instead of worrying that you'll fail, think about what'll happen if you pass," Karai suggested.

"Like what?" the Jinchuriki inquired.

"Like you've taken the first step to being acknowledged by the villagers," April answered.

Mikey placed his hand on the blond's right shoulder. "Trust us, dude, if you believe in yourself, then you can do it," the goofball said. "And after we all pass and become genins, we'll have an awesome party at your house!"

Naruto smiled at his friends. "Thanks you guys! Now let's pass this exam!"

Iruka and another Chunin stepped into the classroom; Iruka brought out a clipboard with a list of names on it. "We will now begin with the final genin exam," Iruka announced. "When your name is called, proceed to the testing room. The Final test will be on… the Clone Jutsu!" Hearing this brought back Naruto's inhibitions.

" _Oh no, that's my worst technique!"_ Naruto thought. _"Great, I'm never gonna pass now!"_ Students were called one by one to take the final exam; when Naruto's name was called, the Hamato Clan gave him reassuring smiles as he got up and entered the testing room. Inside were both Chunin instructors and a desk that held numerous leaf headbands for those who graduated. The Knucklehead ninja stepped in front of the instructors with a determined look. _"Alright, get it together, Naruto! You can do this, believe it!"_ he tried to encourage himself. The Uzumaki kid then formed the hand sign and began manipulating his chakra; streams of blue spirit energy started swirling around is body. "Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed as he performed the technique. In a puff of smoke, three replicas of Naruto appeared, but they were pale in skin color, laid up on the floor, and had their tongues sticking out. Naruto shook as he grew more worried while Iruka carried an irritated look.

"YOU FAILED!" Iruka shouted at the young ninja.

"Iruka Sensei, he's off but his movements weren't bad. He did manage to create three replicas. This is his third exam, so you know he's really trying because he wants to be a ninja. We could just cut him a break and pass him," the other Chunin suggested, which made Naruto smile with hope.

"Mizuki Sensei, each student passed because they made three effective replicas," Iruka explained. "And although Naruto made three, they're all pitiful and wouldn't be of any use in combat. I can't pass him." Naruto growled from his teacher's reasoning.

* * *

Later on, when the final genin exams were over, all of the passing students had gathered together to talk about their graduation in the ninja rank. The only one who failed the exam sat by himself on the swing as he watched the new genins show off their headbands to their families. Just then, he noticed the Hamato Clan coming toward him, each wearing their new leaf headbands. Leo and Donnie had theirs on their foreheads, Raph's was around his right arm, Mikey's was around his waist, and the girls had theirs around their necks. They stopped in front of the downcast Uzumaki, who looked away from them. "Alright Knucklehead, where's your headband?" Raph questioned.

"Yeah brah, let's see it so we can par-ty!" Mikey cheered.

Naruto remained silent while still facing away from the NY ninjas; having got the message, they all looked at their friend with expressions of pity. A few people glanced at the genins that were associating with the hated child. "There, you see him?" a woman said to her friend. "It's that child; I hear that he's the only one who failed."

"Serves him right!" the other woman huffed.

"Just imagine what would happen if _he_ became a ninja," the 1st woman went on. "I mean, he's the boy who…"

"Shhh! We're not allowed to talk about that!" the 2nd woman reminded her.

The mutant ninjas glared at the people talking about their friend before addressing him. "Don't listen to them, Naruto, you can still graduate," April said.

"Yeah, if you can pass the exam before the day ends, I'm sure that'll still count," Karai agreed.

"We'll take you out for some serious training; we can help you grasp the Jutsu," Leo offered.

"By the time we're done with you, you'll be popping out a hundred clones!" Raph said while punching Naruto's arm.

The blond rubbed his arm and said, "Thanks, guys. I appreciate you wanting to help me, but… I just wanna be alone." The NY ninjas nodded in understanding and left their friend; not long after they disappeared, Mizuki Sensei appeared beside Naruto with a warm, comforting smile. In the crowd, the Third Hokage was speaking with the ninja academy teacher.

"Iruka, there's something we need to talk about," the fire shadow said as they watched Naruto leave with the Chunin.

* * *

Moments later, the Chunin and the wannabe genin were sitting on top of a balcony staring at the sun as it began to set over the leaf village. "Iruka Sensei's tough, but he isn't against you," Mizuki told the Knucklehead.

"Then why, why only me?" Naruto inquired sadly.

"He wants you to be strong with all his heart," Mizuki answered. "But that will never happen if he goes easy on you. He's just like you: no parents, no family."

"But this time I really wanted to graduate, and I tried even harder than I ever did before," Naruto said.

Mizuki smiled at the boy. "Then I guess I should tell you this…"

"Huh?" Naruto looked at the Chunin.

"It's a secret, but I'm gonna let you in on it," Mizuki said slyly, catching the Jinchuriki's attention.

" _A secret?"_ Naruto thought.

* * *

Elsewhere, April and Donatello were waiting at the third training ground for their friends to show up; they watched the sunset as they waited. "Thank you guys for doing this for Naruto, it's really nice of you," April said to the turtle.

"Hey, it was your idea, April," Donnie reminded her. "We just agreed to it."

"Thanks anyway," April said again. "Now all we have to do is wait for Leo and Karai to come back from their talk with Iruka and for Raph and Mikey to bring Naruto here."

"Right, and with us helping him to master the Clone Jutsu, he'll master it and graduate in no time at all," Donnie finished.

April smiled before she suddenly grasped her in pain. "Ugh, my head!" She then closed and opened her eyes to find herself in a black space; she looked around and saw a truly horrifying sight: her fellow Uzumaki laying on his back while Iruka sensei was looming over him on all fours. Sticking out of the Chunin's back was giant shuriken. Blood spilled from Iruka's back and a few of his other wounds as he stood protectively over his pupil and cried his heart out to him. She then looked up to see an unknown Chunin hidden in the shadows with two Genins beside him. She then awakened from the vision to find herself in the arms of Donatello. "Donnie?"

"April, are you ok?" Donnie asked her. "What happened?"

"I just had a premonition," she replied.

"About what?" Donnie inquired.

Before she could answer someone asked, "Are we interrupting something?" The two looked see the rest of the Hamato Clan descending in front of them from the trees; Donnie and April separated as their comrades approached them.

"Guys, April just had a premonition," Donnie announced.

"About what?" Karai questioned.

"Naruto. I think someone's gonna try and kill him," April revealed.

"WHAT?!" the others shouted.

"I'm not sure of everything, but I could sense Naruto's hurt and anger as well as the killing intent from the attacker," April explicated. "Iruka sensei was also there trying to save Naruto and was heavily wounded."

"In any case, it sounds like Whiskers needs our help," Karai said.

"Then what are we standing here for; let's go find our Knucklehead!" Raph exclaimed.

"First, let's head over to Iruka sensei's place and alert him of this," Leo suggested. "We might need his help. And when he goes to alert the Hokage, we'll look for Naruto. Let's move!" The six Genins then made their way to the ninja academy instructor's place.

* * *

Iruka's home

Late at night, the Chunin in question was laying in bed as he pondered the words from the third Hokage concerning the Jinchuriki. _"Iruka, I know how you feel; you grew up just like Naruto. Without knowing the love of a mother or father, the warmth of a family."_ His mind then wandered to twelve years ago, when the Nine Tailed Fox attacked the leaf village; many shinobi stood at the front lines to defend their home against the giant beast, including Iruka's parents. As the battle continued, little Iruka was carried away by an older ninja; the boy screamed, demanding to be released so he could go back since his parents were on the battlefield. The young boy stared into the eyes of the monstrous fox as he felt its desire to rampage and destroy everything that stood in his path or anyone who stood in his path. "Iruka sensei, wake up!" someone cried from outside his door; the Chunin woke up and hurried to the door.

On the roof, the Hamato Clan had just landed. "Alright, now let's get Iruka Sensei!" Leo said.

"Wait, look!" Karai pointed downward at the Chunin with gray hair.

"Isn't that Mizuki Sensei?" April questioned. "Why's he here?"

Iruka then opened the door and saw his fellow Chunin looking distressed. "What? What is it, Mizuki?" he asked.

"You need to come to Lord Hokage's right away!" Mizuki said urgently. "It's Naruto! He stole the sacred scroll!"

"You mean the sacred scroll?! No!" Iruka cried. He hurried back inside to get dressed while Mizuki waited for him. The Chunin then noticed six shadows standing on the roof a second before they disappeared into the night; he frowned a bit just as his comrade came out in his Chunin uniform. "Is something wrong?" Iruka asked while looking up.

"It's nothing, let's go!" Mizuki said and the two left to see the Hokage.

Elsewhere, the ninjas of NY were jumping along rooftops to look for their friend. "This is bad! If Naruto really did steal the sacred scroll… who knows what could happen?" Leo mused.

"Do you really think he stole it?" Karai asked disbelievingly.

"Probably did it as another stupid prank!" Raph growled.

"No way! Naruto's our bro! He would never do something like this!" Mikey defended his friend.

"I don't know, Mikey. I could sense that Mizuki sensei wasn't lying," April admitted. "But there's something else about him that has me worried, like he's hiding something."

"So what's the plan, Leo?" Donnie inquired.

"We find Naruto and find out what's going on!" Leo instructed. "Raph, you go with Karai! April, take Donnie! Mikey, you're with me! No matter what, find Naruto! We'll meet up back at the training ground in 15 minutes!" The six Genins scattered and went searching for the wanted Uzumaki. "Alright Mikey, I need you to think. If this is just a prank, you're most likely to know where he would hide. So if you were Naruto and you did steal the sacred scroll, where would you go with it to avoid getting caught?"

Mikey thought for a moment. "Hmmm, if I had just stolen a powerful scroll that could get me in serious trouble, I would…" His face then lit up. "I've got an idea, this way!" Michelangelo turned in a different direction with Leonardo right behind him.

* * *

Deep within a forest, the wanted Uzumaki was sitting on the grass next to a small hut while examining the giant scroll he just stole. "Let's see, the first one is Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto read before he grew upset. "Aw, not this again! It's my worst Jutsu!"

"You know, we could help you with that one, brah," a voice spoke from behind Naruto.

"Oh hey, thanks a lot… AAAAHH!" the failure screamed as he jumped to his feet. He turned around to see Leonardo Hyuga and Michelangelo Akimichi standing behind him. "Uh, hey guys. I knew someone would find me but I wasn't expecting it to be you two."

"Naruto, what are you doing with that scroll? It's not a toy! If this is a simple prank…" Leo started to say before Mikey interrupted him.

"Cool it, Leo, let's hear him out first," the Goofball said. Leo sighed before nodding.

"Look, guys, I know this seems bad, but this isn't a prank," Naruto assured. "I've realized that I can't pass the final exam the way everyone else did, so when I heard about this sacred scroll, I thought I could use it." He opened the scroll to show them a few of the Jutsus on it. "This scroll contains a lot of advanced Jutsus; if I can learn just one, maybe that'll be enough for me to pass!"

"But Naruto, why'd you have to steal it?" Leo questioned.

"I was gonna give it back, I just wanted some time to see if it's all that I've heard about it," Naruto replied. "Please, don't take this away from me and don't tell anyone I'm here yet! I really wanna pass and this might be my last chance. I'll make you a deal: you guys can stay and learn from this scroll with me if you don't rat me out, what do you say?"

"Sweet, bro! So what's first?" Mikey asked eagerly. The two were about to open the scroll when Leo placed his hand on it.

"Hold on, Naruto. I understand how you feel, but this isn't an ordinary scroll. It's the sacred scroll, so it's really important," Leo said. "You stole this from the Hokage's office, but if we return it now, you might get off easy and we can even help you master the Clone Jutsu so that you can pass with u-" The oldest turtle stopped talking when the Uzumaki pointed to his forehead while wearing a serious face.

"The headband," he said sternly.

"What?"

"The headband," Naruto repeated before pointing to Mikey's waist. "You both got leaf headbands; that means you've graduated to genin level, and you're both full-fledged ninjas now." He then pointed to his own forehead where his goggles rested. "I want to be a ninja too, so that I can achieve my dream of becoming Hokage. I've already failed three times; I need to try something different now! I appreciate that you guys wanna help me, but this is something I need so that I can stop being such a… a failure. If this is such an important scroll filled with advanced Jutsu, then I'm going to learn from it to show that nothing's going stop me! Believe it!"

"But Naruto…" Leo began before he was cut off again.

"I promised myself that today was the day that I would finally become a ninja, and I never go back on my word because that's my nindo, my ninja way!" Naruto declared as he clenched his fist. "Now are you guys with me or not?"

"Of course we're with you, dude," Mikey replied. "Right, Leo?"

The Leader in blue registered the words of the wannabe genin, and read the determination on his face. _"He hasn't given up; he's trying a different approach. He wants to take it to the next step… so he deserves to be given a chance,"_ he thought before he smiled and asked, "Alright then, what's first?"

"YEAH!" the pranksters cheered.

"But we'd better hurry," Leo warned them. "We don't have much time, so let's get started."

"Let's try this one," Naruto suggested as he showed them the 1st Jutsu on the scroll.

* * *

At the Hokage's office, many Jonins and Chunins were gathered together with the village leader standing in front of them; their faces were full of anger and worry while their leader seemed neutral. "Lord Hokage, this is not just a prank! This is a serious crime!" one of the Chunins stated.

"That Scroll contains secrets that were sealed away by the first Hokage," another spoke. "Secrets that are meant for only our village!"

"If it falls into the wrong hands, they could destroy our entire way of life," a Jonin said. Iruka and Mizuki soon appeared beside their comrades, the former seeming very upset.

"Alright, bring Naruto here at once!" Lord Hiruzen ordered.

"Yes sir!" they complied. The Fire Shadow waved his hand and the ninja quickly dispersed. Iruka jumped across buildings looking around frantically for his student; he stopped to take a quick breather and think. _"Where would he go?"_ he thought before resuming his search. At the same time, Mizuki sped through the village with two giant shurikens behind his back and a radio around his neck.

" _Now that I've told everyone what Naruto did, I can eliminate him!"_ Mizuki thought while smirking evilly. _"They'll be glad he's gone, and of course I get to keep the scroll for myself."_ He then pressed the button on his neck radio and spoke. "It's time. Meet me at the hideout, and retrieve the scroll!"

"What about the fox brat?" someone asked from the other line.

"Kill him, and anyone who sides with him!" Mizuki ordered.

Back at the hideout, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Naruto were all sitting on the grass in exhaustion; they each took heavy breaths from their training. "Man, I can see why that Jutsu's in the sacred scroll," Leo commented.

"No kidding, bro, I feel beat," Mikey agreed. "I need pizza, pronto."

"He needs what?" Naruto inquired.

"Never mind," Leo dismissed.

"Thanks a lot, guys, for doing this with me," Naruto said gratefully. "Means a lot."

"No prob," Mikey said.

"It was worth the try, but once we get our strength back we need to move," Leo instructed. "It won't be long before someone finds us here." Right on cue, Iruka appeared before the young ninjas in-training. "Iruka Sensei."

"It's all over, I caught you," Iruka chuckled at Naruto, only to be surprised when Naruto laughed back. "Leonardo? Michelangelo? What are you two doing here?" he asked when he noticed the boys.

"We were worried about Naruto, and after we heard about what he did, we came looking for him," Leo answered. "Sensei, we should probably get moving."

"Heh heh, I'm surprised, Sensei," Naruto admitted as he and the others stood up. "You found us pretty quickly; we only had time to learn one technique."

" _So they've all been out here practicing. I can clearly see how hard they've been working,"_ an impressed Iruka thought.

"By the way, Sensei, Naruto's got something to show you," Mikey stated.

"Listen, Iruka Sensei, I'm gonna show you this amazing Jutsu and you're gonna let me graduate, then everything will be ok!" Naruto exclaimed, confusing the Chunin. "That's the way it works, right? Anyone who learns a Jutsu from this scroll gets to pass!"

The other three looked at Naruto. "Huh? Where'd you get that idea from?" asked Iruka.

"Mizuki Sensei told me about it!" Naruto replied. "He told me how to find the scroll, and this place, and-" Naruto stopped talking when he saw the worried looks of his friends and teacher. "Uh, what's the matter, guys?"

" _Mizuki told him this?"_ Iruka thought.

"Naruto, Mizuki's the one who reported your crime to everyone," Leonardo revealed.

"What? No way, he wouldn't do that," Naruto denied. "He said he wanted to help me pass and become a ninja."

Just then, Iruka sensed something and shouted, "Look out!" He quickly pushed the three out of the way and was impaled by multiple kunai knives. Naruto looked horrified at his teacher's condition while Leo and Mikey brought their weapons.

"I see you found our secret hideaway," someone said from the trees. "And you're not the only one either."

"So that's how it is, I should've known," Iruka growled as he looked up. Standing on a tree branch was Mizuki, along with two other Genins; both of them were wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and pants.

"I'm only gonna say this once, boys: give me the scroll and Naruto, now!" Mizuki ordered. The two Hamato ninjas stood defensively in front of the confused Uzumaki.

"Not gonna happen, traitor!" Leo retorted.

"Wait a minute, what's going on here?!" Naruto questioned.

"Naruto, don't let Mizuki get the scroll!" Iruka instructed as he pulled out the knives from his body. "It contains forbidden Jutsu that could put the village in grave danger! Mizuki used you to steal the scroll for himself, for his own power!"

"What?!" Naruto growled.

"Naruto, Iruka's just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll," Mizuki lied. "Your friends want to turn you in and get a reward for it, but I'd like to recruit you for my team. Give me the scroll and I'll take care of everything."

"You're lying!" Leo yelled. "You tricked Naruto into stealing the scroll and then reported it to cover the fact that it was your idea! Now you're here to kill him and seize the scroll for yourself!"

Naruto grew slightly frightened from Leo's accusation; he then felt a gentle nudge from Mikey. "Just chill, Naruto brah, we won't let them hurt you. That's why we came here," the goofball assured him with a smile.

Mizuki frowned before he muttered, "Take care of the outsiders, I've got business with the fox brat." The two Genins nodded before charging at the Hamato ninjas. They kicked them away from the Jinchuriki and the four were locked in combat. Naruto looked around, completely unsure of what was happening before his eyes.

"Naruto, your friends and teacher called me a liar, but they're the ones who never told you the truth," Mizuki said.

"No Mizuki, don't tell him!" Iruka cried.

"They've been lying to you your whole life, Naruto, ever since that decree that was made twelve years ago," Mizuki stated.

"W-What decree?" Naruto asked.

"Everyone knows it except you, including your so-called friends," Mizuki continued. "Iruka and the outsiders are trying to hide it from you even now; they'd do anything to shut me up!"

"What is this decree? What does everyone else know about?" Naruto asked again.

"Don't say it! It's forbidden!" Iruka shouted. Leo and Mikey stopped fighting for a moment, allowing their opponents to get the advantage; they tackled the NY ninjas to ground and held them down.

"The decree is that no one can tell you that the Nine Tailed Fox is hidden inside you!" Mizuki revealed. Naruto's eyes grew wide as he gasped from what he was told. "The Fox Spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body! You are the Nine Tailed Fox!"

"STOP IT!" Iruka yelled.

"They've all been sneaking around hiding this from you your entire life!" Mizuki went on. "Didn't you find it strange how the village treated you? Like dirt! Like they hated you for just being alive!"

Tears began to form in Naruto's eyes from the truth. "No! No, no, no, no!" His grief transformed into anger as his chakra started spiraling out of control.

* * *

Back in the village, April, Donnie, Karai, and Raph had regrouped at the third training ground. "No sign of Naruto anywhere," Karai reported.

"Where are Leo and Mikey?" Donnie wondered, noticing that they weren't around.

"They must've found Naruto!" Raph stated.

"Then why aren't they back with him yet?" Karai asked.

Before anyone could answer, April grasped her head in pain. "Naruto!" she gasped.

"What is it, April?" Donnie inquired worriedly.

"Naruto… I sense he's in great pain," April answered. "His chakra just spiked with his emotions. I think I can track it!"

"Then lead the way!" Raph said. The four Genins quickly left to get to Naruto's location.

* * *

"That's why you'll never be accepted by this village! Even your beloved sensei hates your guts!" Mizuki taunted the boy.

"That's not true!" Leo yelled as he struggled against his enemy. "Naruto, don't listen to him; he's just trying to deceive you!"

"Ha! I'm trying to deceive him? You can't expect this brat to take the words of any outsider; you may have been in this village for years, but you're just as unloved as he is," Mizuki said. "You and your pathetic comrades will always be outsiders, and Naruto will always be hated by everyone! That's the sad truth!"

Iruka groaned in pain as he remembered the rest of the conversation he had with the third Hokage. _"Iruka, Naruto never had a mother or father to care for him. He's shunned out by almost everyone and doesn't know why; most people won't even look at him. How would you feel if everywhere you went, people turned their backs on you? That's why he gets into so much trouble: so that people will notice him. It may not show, but he's always thinking about the family he doesn't have. He's hurting inside."_

Mizuki grabbed one of his giant shurikens and spun it rapidly. "Now die, Naruto!" He tossed the weapon at the Jinchuriki; Naruto attempted to get away but he wasn't fast enough. Frightened, the Uzumaki closed his eyes as the shuriken was upon him; it struck, but it wasn't the young ninja that was hit. Naruto looked up to see Iruka sensei hunched over him on all fours with the giant weapon sticking out of his back. Blood spilled from the Chunin's back as he gasped from the pain. Everyone stared at the injured ninja with wide eyes; Mizuki then growled at the interference of his plan.

"W-Why?" Naruto muttered.

"Because… we're the same," Iruka admitted. "When I lost my parents… no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me; they just…forgot I even existed. My grades dropped, and I became the class clown. I just wanted them to see me, and to know my name. My schoolwork wasn't good enough to get their attention…so I did crazy things…and then I had to pay for it. It was hard," Naruto gazed at the Chunin as he began to shed tears and poured his heart to him. "I know that's how you feel Naruto…you feel lonely and it hurts, and I could've been there for you more. I let you down, I'm so sorry; no one should have to suffer that much, no one should be alone like that."

"Ha! Don't make me laugh! Iruka always hated you! He was orphaned because the Nine Tailed Fox killed his parents and now that beast is locked inside you! He'd say anything to get the scroll from you!" Mizuki shouted.

Unsure of what to believe, the Jinchuriki ran out from under his teacher and tried to escape when he was suddenly pounced on by the genin that fought Leo. "Where do you think you're going, fox brat?!" he asked. He pulled out a kunai and prepared to stab the failure, but he was suddenly kicked off by the head of the Hamato clan, who helped Naruto up. The 1st genin was about to attack again when the 2nd one was tossed into him, courtesy of Michelangelo. Both turtles stood defensively in front of the Uzumaki with their weapons ready.

"If you want Naruto, you'll have to go through us first!" Leo declared.

"Famous last words, outsider!" the 1st Genin said before he and his comrade charged at the Hamato.

"Mikey, we need an exit! Naruto, be ready to move!" Leo ordered.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey exclaimed as he pulled out a smoke bomb and tossed it at the ground, and in a puff of purple-black smoke, the three ninjas in-training disappeared from everyone's line of sight.

"Where'd they go?! Damn brats!" Mizuki growled. "Find them and kill them! I want that scroll!" His two Genins nodded and went after the Hamato ninjas.

"No, Naruto," Iruka murmured.

"It's useless. You know more than anyone that when he makes up his mind, nothing can change it." Mizuki chuckled. "He's going to use the scroll to take revenge on the village, and neither you nor those outsiders can stop him. You saw that look in his eyes, didn't you? Those are the eyes of a beast."

"No… Naruto… isn't like that!" Iruka grunted as he pulled out the giant shuriken and tossed it at Mizuki, but the traitor easily evaded the giant throwing star.

"You're a joke, Iruka. As soon as I eliminate those kids and retrieve the scroll, I'll be back to finish you," the evil Chunin swore before he left.

" _I won't let you!"_ Iruka thought with determination before going after him.

* * *

At the Hokage's office, the Fire Shadow was watching the entire scene play out from his seat through a crystal ball; he frowned at the despair Naruto felt from the truth he learned. _"This is not good. Mizuki has a big mouth; he made Naruto feel so bad, worst than he's ever felt. It could unleash the power inside of him. If Naruto keeps tampering with the scroll, the seal that locks the Fox Spirit inside of him… could be broken and the beast could come out. If that happens… I fear for us all."_ He then watched as Leo, Mikey, and Naruto were jumping through the trees. _"Perhaps our hope lies in the hands of the Sage of Six Paths disciples… I hope they can save Naruto… and this village."_

* * *

In the forest, the three ninjas in-training leaped from branch to branch; Leonardo activated his Byakugan so that he could constantly watch their backs. Naruto remained silent, causing the two turtles to glance at him and then each other. "Listen Naruto, don't let what Mizuki said get to you. He's a traitor; you can't trust him," Leo reasoned.

"Yeah, dude was completely wacko, bro. Besides, we like ya, and so does Iruka," Mikey assured him. "Just forget everything that jerkface said."

"Is it true?" Naruto asked abruptly.

"What?" Leo inquired.

"Is… it… true?" Naruto asked again. "Is the Nine Tailed Fox really inside of me?" The turtles said nothing at first before nodding their heads. "And you guys knew about all this time?"

"Yes. April had a vision about it, and Lord Hokage told us," Leo replied. "We were asked not to say anything about to anyone, especially to you."

"I see," Naruto muttered.

"Sorry we didn't tell you," Mikey apologized.

"We understand if you're mad at us and don't trust us anymore," Leo added.

"Actually, I want to thank you," Naruto corrected as he smiled. "You guys knew the truth about me and you still became my friends. You guys stuck by me even when the village didn't, so there's no one else who deserves my trust more than you."

The two turtles smiled at his response. "Well said, Naruto," Leo commended.

"Thanks bro," Mikey said.

Naruto's smile then turned upside down as he asked, "Hey guys… do you think… Iruka really hates me?"

Before Naruto's question could be answered, Leo exclaimed, "Heads up, guys, we've got company!" The three turned around and saw Mizuki's Genin pursuing them. Their pursuers threw shurikens at their targets, which Leo and Mikey easily deflected with their weapons. "We can't outrun them!"

"So what do we do?" Naruto inquired.

"It looks like we'll have to split up!" Leo suggested. "Naruto, Mikey and I will hold them off while you flee with the scroll!"

"But I can't leave you guys!" the Knucklehead argued.

"Listen, these guys are after the scroll and they want to kill you! If we took the scroll from you, they might go after us, but we can't risk them going after you instead! So it's better if both their objectives escape while we keep them occupied!" Leo explained.

"Can't we just fight them?" Naruto questioned.

"No to that, too!" Leo answered. "We may outnumber them, but they aren't regular Genins! They've probably been Genins for years and Mizuki is their teacher, so they've got experience! Plus, we're exhausted from our training; we wouldn't last long enough! Our best plan is for you to take the scroll back to the Hokage and tell him what happened so that he can send reinforcements!"

"But… what about you guys?" Naruto asked with worry.

"Chill, brah, we got this! We won't let them get you, because that's what friends are for!" Mikey assured.

Naruto sighed before nodding. "Okay! So what now?"

"Be ready to run! Mikey, smoke bomb now!" Leo ordered. The two turtles brought out two smoke bombs and gave them to Naruto. "When I saw now, throw it at them!" Leo and Mikey started weaving hand signs as they faced the Genins on their shells.

"We won't fall for the same trick twice!" the 1st Genin declared.

"We'll see about that… now!" Leo cried. The Uzumaki hurled the smoke bombs at the enemy, and they held up their hands to block the bombs. The Genins jumped through the large smoke wall, but what they saw surprised them: instead of chasing one Naruto and two outsiders, they were chasing three Narutos, each holding a giant scroll of their own. The three blonds smirked before jumping around in numerous directions, confusing their pursuers. After a while, the 1st Genin chased after one Naruto while the 2nd one chose another.

* * *

Elsewhere in the forest, April led Donatello, Karai, and Raphael toward Leo, Mikey, and Naruto's location when she suddenly stopped and placed her hand on her forehead. "Something's wrong…" she muttered while trying to concentrate.

"What's the holdup, O'Neil?" Karai questioned.

"Naruto's chakra, I can't sense it anymore," April said.

"What does that mean?!" Raph questioned.

"He must be hiding, so his chakra is subconsciously lowered to conceal his presence," Donnie stated. "What about Leo or Mikey's chakra?"

"I can't sense theirs either; after they separated from Naruto, their chakra disappeared," April answered.

"We've got no choice but to split up again, then," Raph decided. "Donnie, you take your girlfriend while I take Leo's girlfriend!"

"She's not my—" Donnie was about to say before he was cut off.

"We'll get back to that!" April said as she grabbed the smart turtle and hurried off in one direction while Raph and Karai left in the other.

* * *

The first Genin chased after his Naruto until he tackled him and the two went plummeting toward the ground. They landed on their feet and prepared to fight. "Listen brat, you don't stand a chance against me! So why don't hand over that scroll, and maybe I'll you live, and that's a big maybe!"

Naruto smirked and said, "Well I'd love to give you the scroll…" He then made a hand sign, dispelling a Jutsu… revealing himself to be Leonardo. "…but unfortunately I don't have it."

The Genin glared at the leader in blue. "I can't believe I fell for such a simple Jutsu," he growled.

"Listen, I don't wanna hurt a fellow comrade, so here's your chance to walk away and leave my friends alone!" Leo warned him.

The Genin laughed at his words. "We're not comrades! I would never be comrades with an outsider, and you're the one who's gonna get hurt if you don't hand over the scroll and the fox brat!"

"Trying to steal the sacred scroll is one thing, but attempting to kill Naruto after tricking him into doing it is unforgivable!" Leo declared. "This is your last chance, back off!" The Genin just smirked as he brought out two kunai knives and charged at the NY shinobi. Leo took his gentle fist stance and focused his chakra into his palms; when his enemy was close, he thrust forward them to strike him, but he easily dodged his attack. Leo continued his assault by unleashing a barrage of palm strikes but the evil Genin managed to block and evade every one of them. _"Darn it! I'm not landing a hit on him! My chakra's still low,"_ he thought.

"What's the matter outcast, feeling tired?" the Genin mocked. "You only managed to learn one technique from that scroll, and you're already out of gas! Not even ten techniques would wear me out!"

Leo glared at his opponent as he brought his swords; the turtle charged at the Genin with a mighty battle cry. Splinter's son swung his swords rapidly as did the Genin with his kunai. At first, it looked like the two were evenly matched, but Leo soon began to tire out and the Genin managed to land a couple of blows on him. The dual swordsman was eventually knocked onto his back; he stood up and wiped the blood off of his mouth. _"I can't keep this up for long, and I can't waste anymore time; Naruto needs me! But at this point, I only have enough chakra for one Jutsu!"_ Leonardo thought before he got an idea. _"Maybe one's all I need."_

"What's the matter, outsider? Are we gonna finish this?!" the Genin demanded.

"Yes, we will!" Leo declared as he brought out another smoke bomb.

"Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me! You won't get a third time!" the Genin said as he weaved hand signs. **"Wind Style: Piercing Bullet!"** The Genin shot four small, thin air blasts at the Hamato leader; one struck him in the shoulder while the other three hit him in the chest. Leo was knocked onto his back as the Genin jumped at him for the final blow. The oldest turtle quickly slammed the smoke bomb on the ground, concealing himself in a wall of smoke. Just as the Genin entered the smoke, his strikes were blocked and he was kicked back out; the Genin looked at the smoke in shock and saw four Leonardos jumping out of it. "No way, the Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the Genin stated in realization. The four turtles charged at their opponent with their swords drawn. "How nice, a real challenge!" the Genin said as he stood up. He blocked one Leo's attack and stabbed it; it dissipated in a puff of smoke. The second Leo swung his swords a few times before he was socked in the face and poofed. The remaining two turtles charged at the enemy; the Genin threw a kunai at one of them, dispelling him. The last Leo thrust his sword forward, but the Genin blocked the blade before snapping it in half and impaling Leo in the chest. The Leader in blue coughed as blood dripped from his chest. "This fight is over," the Genin said.

"Not yet," Leo muttered before he turned into a puff of smoke.

" _There were four shadow clones?!"_ the Genin thought frantically as the real Leonardo suddenly jumped through his clone's smoke with his blades crossed and emitting chakra; he swung a few times and appeared behind the Genin. The Genin checked himself and saw no scratch on him; he turned to Leo while weaving hand signs. He blew at the turtle to nail him with more air blasts, but nothing came out of his mouth. "What?! How?! Why can't I use my Jutsu?!" he asked. "What did you do to me?!"

"Simple, I severed you chakra links," Leo replied.

"You what my what?!"

"Severed your chakra links." Leo repeated. "As you probably know, everyone has a chakra network, and on those networks are points that can either increase or halt the flow of chakra depending on how they're struck. These chakra points allow a person to emit chakra from specifics parts of their body. But my Byakugan allows me to see these points and my clan's fighting style, the Gentle Fist, allows me to block the flow of chakra once I've struck my opponent, preventing them from using any Jutsu. However, in my training, I've noticed that there are links between these points and focused on severing them. I call it the Swift Strike." Leo then sheathed his swords and faced the Genin "So even though the points holding your chakra haven't been touched, the links they've traveled to have been cut, producing the same results… plus a few extra ones."

Suddenly, the Genin started to cry out in pain; he looked at his arms and saw them emitting chakra while his legs did the same. The Genin tried to move his limbs, but it became too painful as the chakra exiting him increased. "What's happening to me?!" he questioned.

"With your chakra links severed, your chakra is flowing in an unstable way," Leo answered. "And it will continue to build up until your limbs have been completely destroyed!" Leo then channeled chakra into his right palm and walked slowly to the Genin that was writhing in agony; he then struck the Genin in the chest, stopping his chakra flow and knocking him out. The chakra in his limbs faded and he collasped on the ground. The son of Splinter then fell on one knee as he started breathing heavily. "I warned you… this didn't have to happen," he murmured. He then heard someone shout, "Leo!" right before Miwa and Raphael landed in front of him. "Hey guys," he greeted them.

"'Hey guys?' Is that all you have to say?" Raph demanded. "Where the heck have you been?! And what the heck is going on?!"

"It's a long story," Leo replied.

"Who's that?" Karai inquired as she pointed to the Genin Leo defeated.

"He's not important. What's important is that we find Naruto and fast!" Leo said. "Where are April and Donnie?"

"We split up to find you boneheads," Raph responded. "They've probably caught up to one of them by now."

"Then we'd better get going, too," Leo said as he activated his Byakugan; his ocular ninjutsu scanned the forest. His eyes widened when he spotted something moving through the trees.

"Do you see Naruto?" Karai asked.

"No, but I do see someone else," Leo answered. "Come on, I'll explain on the way!" The three Genins then jumped after the person pursuing their target.

* * *

In another part of the forest, the second Genin was chasing his own Naruto. He threw a few shurikens at his enemy, who managed to deflect them with his own. However, this distracted him from watching where he was going and he didn't see the tree he was headed for. The boy then crashed into the tree and fell to the ground. He landed on his feet just as his pursuer descended to the ground. "Are you the real Naruto?" Mizuki's 2nd Genin questioned.

"I may not be Naruto…" the Naruto said before he vanished in a puff of smoke and turned into Michelangelo. "But I am real, dude."

"You're making a mistake, outsider," the Genin said. "You'll only die if you continue to protect that monster. Why risk your life for such a cursed child?"

"He's not a monster, he a ninja that knows how to have fun, like me!" Mikey answered heatedly. "And he's my friend! That's why I won't let you won't get your hands on him!"

"Very well, I'll just kill you and him!" the Genin stated as he brought out kunai knives.

"You think you're tough? Well you're about to taste the wrath of my hot nunchuck fury!" Mikey declared as he brought out his weapons and spun them.

"You've got no chance beating me with farm tools," the Genin taunted. "This will be over quickly." He then charged at the goofball and tried to stab him, but Mikey easily evaded him by jumping over his head. The Genin turned around and tried again, only to miss as Mikey backflipped over him and smacked him in the head. The enemy glared at the turtle and rushed at him again; Mikey ducked under him, wrapped his chain around his right leg, and pulled, making the Genin trip and fall face first to the dirt. Getting angry, the Genin kicked Mikey off his feet and got up to punch him, but he rolled out of the way and stood back up before making a face to taunt his opponent. Now furious, the Genin swung wildly at the turtle, who dodged easily before tossing a smoke bomb at the ground. When it faded, there were four Mikeys standing before the 2nd Genin. "What? How did a fool of a ninja like you master this technique?" the Genin demanded.

"'Cause I'm super dope like that, fool!" the four ninjas answered. They then jumped at the Genin, who readied his weapons; the Mikeys then split up and started jumping in every direction, confusing the evil Genin. When they eventually stopped, the Genin noticed that he was surrounded by chains from the turtles' nunchucks. His upper body was suddenly restrained, immobilizing him. "Gotcha now, son! Now taste my Wicked Booyakasha Wrecking Ball!" Mikey declared before he wrapped one end of his chain around a tree branch and put the other end in his mouth. He then weaved hand signs and started swinging toward the Genin while forward flipping; his body suddenly expanded as he was wrapped in his chain, turning him into a living wrecking ball. The ball slammed into the Genin, sending flying into a tree; he cried out in pain before he began to plummet to the ground. On a tree branch above him, another Mikey stood while making a hand sign. "Now time for the Cowabunga Crush!" he announced as he expanded and jumped down. He started rolling rapidly as he descended; the Genin hit the ground, seconds before he was crushed by the turtle boulder and fell unconscious.

Mikey then returned to normal size and cheered as his clones appeared beside him. "That was totally a level 6 awesome! High three, mes!" The four Mikeys high fived before the clones disappeared, leaving Mikey alone. Just then, April and Donnie landed beside him. "Hey dudes, what took you so long?"

"You guys are not easy to find," Donnie retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Mikey, what's been going on, and who were you fighting?" April questioned.

"Someone who just learned that you don't mess with Michelangelo! Go Ninja, Go Ninja Go!" Mikey exclaimed. The three then spotted someone who looked like Naruto with the sacred scroll jumping through the trees and following him was someone who looked like Iruka.

"Was that Naruto? And Iruka sensei?" April asked.

"Care to fill us in, Mikey?" Donnie asked.

"Sure thing, D!" Mikey replied just as they spotted Karai, Leo, and Raph going after Iruka. "Come on, guys, I'll fill you in on the way!" The three Hamato Genins took to the trees and began following their comrades.

* * *

In the forest, Naruto jumped from branch to branch with the scroll tied to his back; he was suddenly caught up to by Iruka Sensei. "Naruto! Everything Mizuki told you was a lie!" the Chunin called out. "Give me the scroll! We can't let him get his hands on it!" Instead of handing over the scroll, Naruto jumped and struck Iruka, knocking him to the ground. Naruto landed on the ground as Iruka stood up and glared at him. "But how? How did you know…" Iruka demanded as he transformed back into Mizuki. "…that it was me and not Iruka?!" Naruto slumped next to a tree as he smirked at the Chunin.

"I know…" Naruto began as he turned back into the real Iruka. "…because I'm Iruka."

"You're a fool!" Mizuki declared. "Why are you protecting that freak?! He's the one who wiped out your family!"

Just then, the Hamato Clan appeared and hid themselves in the trees; they looked down and saw Mizuki standing before the injured Iruka. "I see Iruka and that Mizuki jerk, but I don't see Naruto anywhere," Raph whispered.

"He must've made it back to the village," Karai suggested.

"Maybe reinforcements are on their way," April said before asking, "So what's the plan Leo?"

"We split and attack Mizuki from all sides; we'll catch him by surprise and take him out fast!" Leo instructed. The other Genins nodded and prepared to strike, but before they could move, they heard a voice in their minds saying, _"*Wait!*"_ They all flinched and Michelangelo almost fell out of the tree but Donatello managed to grab him. "That voice, is that you Hagoromo Sensei?" Leonardo inquired.

" _*Yes, my students, it's me,*"_ the Sage responded.

"Wow, haven't heard your voice in my mind for a while," Donnie remarked.

"Sensei, why don't you want us to attack Mizuki?" April asked.

"Your friend Naruto is close by, listening to the conversation," the Shinobi God explained. "He needs to know how his teacher feels about him, and he must use his own skills to save him."

"But Naruto's barely a Genin, he won't stand a chance against a Chunin," Raph argued.

"Our best chance is to attack him all together, and hopefully stall till the backup gets here," Karai said.

" _*Do not underestimate your friend, he has managed to learn one technique from the scroll just like your brothers did. Now you must give him the chance to prove that he's not what the village think he is, that he's something greater,*"_ Hagoromo advised them. The Hamato Clan thought about this for a moment before agreeing to wait and see if Naruto will need their help or not. _"*Thank you, my disciples, you will not regret this. I assure you, this is just the beginning of the evil you will face in this world, but you'll need the help of your comrades to overcome it. As long as you have faith in them, they won't let you down. Goodbye for now.*"_ The NY ninjas nodded as their Sensei's voice faded from their minds again and they turned their attention back at the teachers.

"I don't care what you say, you're not getting your hands on that scroll… or Naruto," Iruka declared. Said Jinchuriki was hiding close by, clutching the sacred scroll as he listened to the Chunins talk.

"As if you could stop me," Mizuki scoffed. "Don't you get it? Naruto is just like me!"

"How so?" Iruka inquired.

"He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance, that's just how beasts are!" Mizuki stated. "He'll pour all of his rage into the scroll and destroy everything!"

Iruka was silent for a moment before muttering, "You're right."

Naruto gasped at his teacher's answer. " _So it's true… Iruka Sensei never believed in me,_ " he thought. " _He thinks I'm some kind of… beast! A freak!_ "

"That is how beasts are…" Iruka went on. "But that's not who Naruto is, he's nothing like that!" Naruto's eyes went wide as he continued to listen. "Naruto's one of a kind! He works hard and puts his whole heart into it; sure he messes up sometimes and everyone jumps on him, but that suffering only makes him stronger! That's what separates him from being a beast! So you're wrong, he's nothing like the Nine Tailed Fox! He's Naruto Uzumaki… of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" The Jinchuriki sobbed joyfully from the words of his beloved teacher. The Hamato Clan smiled at Iruka as they all thought, _"So Naruto, what are you going to do?"_

Mizuki stared at his former comrade in disbelief. "Humph! You really believe in that dribble?!" he huffed as he brought out his last giant shuriken. "Iruka, I was gonna save you for later but I changed my mind! You're finished!" The evil Chunin prepared to throw the weapon at the injured ninja, who made no attempt to avoid it.

" _So this is how it ends…"_ Iruka thought as Mizuki charged at him. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Naruto appeared in front of his weakened Sensei and kicked Mizuki in the chin, sending him flying backward and causing him to toss the shuriken in a different direction. It sailed through the trees as Naruto landed on his feet while Mizuki was on his back. _"Naruto!"_ Iruka gasped at the sight of the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja.

"Not bad, for a little punk!" Mizuki commented as he stood up.

Naruto placed the scroll down and glared at the Chunin. "If you ever lay a hand on my Sensei again… I'll kill you!" he swore intensely.

"Come on, Naruto, show us what you've got," Leo whispered.

"Such big words, I could easily destroy you with a single move!" Mizuki declared.

"Take your best shot, fool; I'll give it back to you a thousand fold!" Naruto challenged him while weaving hand signs.

"Give him a Booyakasha beatdown bro," Mikey mumbled.

"Let's see you try! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO, NINE TAILED FOX!" Mizuki shouted.

" **Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** Naruto exclaimed as he performed the technique he learned from the sacred scroll. In an instant, a thousand Naruto clones surrounded the evil Chunin. Everyone watching gained wide eyes from the display of Naruto's newly mastered technique.

" _Naruto,"_ Iruka thought. _"Those aren't_ _illusions, they're solid clones! He's mastered an extremely advanced Jutsu!"_

Mizuki glanced around him frantically, seeing nothing but Naruto clones in every direction. "Hey, over here! No, over here!" Naruto and his clones continued to call to the evil Chunin, leaving him completely bewildered. "If you're not coming, then we're gonna come to you!" Naruto said as he and his clones readied their fists; Mizuki began to tremble with fear before he screamed and the multiple Narutos gave him a serious beating. Seconds later, the evil Chunin was unconscious on the ground with blood spilling from his swollen face. "Sorry about that, I kinda got carried away," Naruto laughed while rubbing his head sheepishly. "You alright, Iruka Sensei?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Iruka replied as he thought, _"He wants to surpass all the Hokages… and I'm starting to believe that he might do it."_

Just then, the Hamato Clan revealed themselves and went by Naruto's side. "Oh, hey guys," Naruto greeted his friends.

"We saw everything Naruto, that was… incredible!" April exclaimed.

"I can't believe you made so many clones in one shot," Leo remarked. "That was so much greater than the number you made in training!"

"We were planning to take this creep out, but decided to let you have him," Raph told him.

"Looks like we made the right call," Donnie said.

"Nice job, whiskers," Karai stated.

"Up high, brah!" Mikey said happily, receiving a high five from the blond.

"So, what happened to Mizuki's lackeys?" Naruto inquired.

"Mikey and I took care of them, but don't worry about them," Leo said. "Right now, we need to get you, Iruka, and Mizuki back to the village and explain everything to the 3rd Hokage."

"Wait," Iruka spoke up, getting the Genins' attention. "Before we go, Naruto, come here for a minute. There's something I want to give you." Although puzzled, the Jinchuriki approached his Sensei.

* * *

Back in the village, most of the Chunins and Jonins had returned from their search for the Knucklehead ninja and were surprised to see that they all came up empty-handed. "We've searched the entire village, and you're telling me no one could find Naruto?!" a Chunin asked.

"Not a trace," another responded.

"This is bad! We might have to smoke him out or something," a Jonin suggested.

"There's no longer any need to worry," the Fire Shadow said as he came out, smoking his pipe. "The scroll's safe. Naruto will be back soon."

* * *

Back in the forest, Naruto stood in front of Iruka with his eyes closed with the Hamato Clan standing behind him."Sensei, how much longer?" Naruto inquired.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now," Iruka told his student. Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see that his Sensei was holding his goggles and that the forehead protector on his forehead was missing. He then felt something else on his own forehead and tapped it; he touched a small metal plate and his eyes grew wide in realization. The sun started shining through the forest, brightening the Chunin's smile even more. "Congratulations Naruto, you graduate!" Iruka declared. "To celebrate, I have a surprise! We're going out for ramen tonight!" Naruto's face slowly grew a smile on it before he pounced on his teacher and embraced him.

"Awesome, bro, you deserve it!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Congrats, Naruto!" Leo told him.

"You passed, about time!" Raph remarked, earning him a jab from Leo.

"You're a real ninja!" Donnie said.

"We're so happy for you!" April added.

"We told ya you could do it!" Karai said.

Naruto let go of his Sensei and faced his friends. "Thanks guys, but I couldn't have done it without you."

"Sure you could've, brah, all you had to do was believe in yourself," Mikey stated. "Now come here!" The six Hamato ninja gathered around Naruto and started hoisting him up and down while cheering.

" _Naruto, this is only the beginning. The road gets tougher now that you're a ninja; but if I told you that, I guess it would ruin the moment. So I'll tell you later… over ramen,"_ Iruka thought.

After that, the six Genins of the Hamato Clan escorted Iruka to the medical center and returned the sacred scroll to the Hokage. Later, they all partied at the Jinchuriki's house, celebrating their own way and even inviting a few friends. Everyone got a taste of the pizza Michelangelo planned to serve in his future shop. The Hamato Clan had taken their first step to becoming better ninja than they were in their world and the path would only get more challenging, but they would always stand together, prepared to face the world with their heads held high. They would never give up until their mission is accomplished.

 _Then the lights came on_

 _Brighter than ever before_

 _Can you see them shine?_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

 _Won't let them fade_

 _This city's meant for much more_

 _Gonna hear us shout_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

...

 **A/N: Finished! Man, this took forever to finish; I had to stay up to get it done! I wish I could give you guys a link so that you could see the Turtles in the human form I gave them on Deviantart, but unfortunately, I don't know how to use Deviantart. And I'm supposed to be learning how to become a graphic designer! Well, if anyone knows how to use Deviantart, please share, as I've got some cover images I'd like to bring to life. Still, I can describe the clothing they're wearing: Leo's is similar to what Kakashi wore as a kid, Donnie's is like Boruto's, Raph's is just a regular shirt and pants, Mikey's is a style Naruto wore when he was younger, April's is similar to Tsunade's when she was a Genin, and Karai's is like the one Kushina wore when she was rescued by Minato from her kidnappers. Now for the next chapter: the forming of teams and the test of the bells. Stay tuned, this'll get better and better with time! One more thing: I've set up a poll – If I were to put the good of Kurama in someone, who should it be? The choices are April, Raph, Karai, and Leo. Although I'm leaning toward April, I wanna see what you guys decide before I make my final decision. Either vote or send reviews/PM, either one is good for me. Until then, BBFN AntiHero out!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Squad Survival Test

**A/N: Hey there, AntiHero here! Sorry, I've been a bit busy and got so sidetracked that I forgot about this fanfic for some time. But I remembered and now I've written this chapter! Now it's time to see how the NY ninjas will pass their bell tests against their Senseis. Hope you'll like it and the surprise at the end of the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer – I own nothing**

 **Chapter 6 – Pass or Fail: Survival Test**

It had been a week since the graduation exam and since the Hamato Clan helped Naruto defeat the traitor Mizuki and earn his leaf headband. Now it was time for the new genins to be assigned on teams and appointed a Sensei. In the Uzumaki apartment, April and Raphael were fully dressed and ready for the new day, they were just waiting for their roommate to wake up. Growing impatient, the brute went to the Knucklehead's room door and knocked on it. "Hey Naruto, wake up! We gotta head to the academy! Don't think just cuz you got your headband that you can take it easy from now on!" Raph yelled. The Jinchuriki woke up to his friend's words; he sat up and yawned before getting out of bed. He took off his sleeping hat and wandered over to his calendar where he noticed the date marked for today and smiled at it cheekily.

He made his way into the kitchen where his roomies were waiting for him. "Morning, Naruto. I made you some cupped ramen," April greeted him.

"About time you got up, Knucklehead," Raph remarked. "Now hurry up and eat!"

Naruto sat down at the table where the Ramen in a cup was waiting for him. "Today's the day," Naruto said as he opened up his breakfast. "So let's chow down!" He slurped up his noodle soup and moaned in delight; he then grabbed the milk carton beside him and prepared to drink it but his red-haired cousin grabbed it from him.

"Don't drink that, Naruto. This milk's expired," April warned him.

"Finish eating and get ready so that we can go!" Raph rushed him.

"Alright, alright!" Naruto replied before quickly gulping down his food and leaving to get dressed. After putting on his clothes, he picked up his goggles and put it around his forehead.

"Uh uh, I don't think so, pal," Raph protested from behind the blond kid; Naruto turned to see the member of the Senju Clan holding his headband to him. "You worked hard to get this thing. It's not just a metal plate on a ribbon, it's a symbol of your status. You're not just a kid anymore, you're a ninja in training! So wear it proudly! Got it?"

Naruto took his headband and replied, "Sure," as he smiled at the turtle ninja.

"Good, now let's get going!" Raph said. The three genins were soon walking down the street heading toward the ninja academy.

"I can't believe it. After all this time, I'm finally a ninja!" Naruto said. "Now we're going to be put on teams and get our own Sensei to train us!"

"So, which team do you think three of us will end up on?" April inquired.

"I don't mind as long as my new teammates don't slow me down," Raph replied. "And our teacher better be someone good."

"Hey! Maybe the three of us will be put on a team! We're already used to each other!" Naruto suggested.

"That be great!" April agreed. As they were walking, someone ahead of them was hiding behind a camouflage sheet but wasn't actually being hidden. The person then removed his sheet, revealing himself to be a small boy wearing a strange headgear, a yellow shirt with the leaf symbol at the center, a blue scarf around his neck, gray pants, and blue sandals.

"You're mine, Naruto!" the boy shouted as he rushed at the Jinchuriki. He tripped over his sheet and fell face forward onto the ground. The three genins stared at the boy in confusion.

"Don't quit, Naruto! You got him right where you want him!" Raph said jokingly.

"Uh hey, what do you think you're doing, Konohamaru?" Naruto asked the boy.

The boy named Konohamaru slowly got to his feet. "That was a slick move. That's why I respect you as my rival," he groaned.

"Thanks, but I didn't do anything," Naruto confessed.

"Naruto, do you know this kid?" April asked.

"This is Konohamaru, he's old man Hokage's grandson," Naruto explained. "After my graduation procedure, he asked me to train him. He wants to be Hokage too, so we agreed to fight for the title one day. We're like archrivals."

"Heh! So you couldn't beat any of your other rivals, so you found an easier one, huh," Raph joked again.

"Shut up!"

"Who are these guys?" Konohamaru inquired.

"They're my cousins: April Uzumaki and Raphael Senju," Naruto introduced his comrades.

"Ok then, now fight me fair and square!" the little boy demanded.

"Sorry, but I've got orientation," Naruto replied.

"Orientation?" Konohamaru parroted.

"That's right. As of today, the three of us are all ninjas. Believe it," Naruto said and smiled as Konohamaru looked at the three in awe. The three left the Hokage's grandkid and made it to the ninja academy; the classroom had plenty of students who graduated and a lot of them were surprised to the knuckleheaded ninja was with them. Leonardo sat with Karai, and Raphael and Michelangelo sat with April and Donatello while Naruto sat next to Sasuke. While everyone was waiting, Sakura and Ino burst into the room trying to get in first; the female rivals then noticed the empty seat between Naruto and their shared crush. They rushed over to take the seat, and pretty soon, a majority of the girls were arguing over who got to sit next to the brooding Uchiha.

"Clueless," Sasuke muttered and ignored them.

During this time, the 3rd Hokage and a handful of Jonins were watching the genins through the Hokage's crystal ball. "Most promising new student Sasuke Uchiha, is that him?" Kakashi inquired.

"Yes, he's the one," Hiruzen confirmed.

"He's one of the surviving members of the Uchiha clan," Kurenai stated.

"That's right, him and Karai Uchiha," the fire shadow replied.

" _Hmm, Naruto Uzumaki,"_ Kakashi thought as he turned his attention toward the Jinchuriki, who soon found himself taking a beating from Sasuke's admirers after a certain… incident with the son of the Uchiha head.

"As usual, Naruto is in the middle of some kind of trouble," Lord third sighed.

"What about those six kids of the clan from outside the village?" a Jonin asked.

"The Hamato clan. They've all proven to be very talented children and they seem to get along with nearly everyone," Hiruzen said. "I'm sure they'll do fine."

* * *

After a while, Iruka Sensei walked into the classroom. "As of today, you are all ninja," he said as he stood before his students. "To get here, you all faced difficult trials and hardships, but that was nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Right now, you're only genin – first level ninja. All the genin will be grouped into a three-man squad and each squad will be led by a Jonin, an elite ninja."

This information made everyone anxious. _"Who's going to be on my team? It could be anybody!"_ was the one thought they all shared.

" _A three-man squad? There aren't many who can keep up with me, so they'll probably just slow me down,"_ Sasuke thought. _"I guess it'll be fine if Karai's on my squad."_

" _I want Sasuke on my team!"_ Sakura and Ino thought.

" _I wanna be with Sakura and maybe one of my cousins or close friends,"_ Naruto pondered. _"I don't really care as long as it ain't Sasuke!"_

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up. All squads have already been pre-selected," Iruka elucidated as he held up a few sheets of paper. "I will now announce the squads!" Iruka called out the members of the first four squads before moving onto the fifth. "Squad 5 – Leonardo Hyuga! Raphael Senju! And Karai Uchiha!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about, people I get to enjoy sparring with!" Raph said, pleased with his team.

"It's nice that we get to be on the same team, isn't it?" Leo said to Karai.

"Guess they wanted the best to be together," she replied.

" _Hmm, well, I suppose it's best if Raph and I aren't on a team,"_ Naruto thought. _"I still have April and Mikey, maybe one or both of them will be on my team."_

"Squad 6 - Michelangelo Akimichi! Donatello Nara! And April Uzumaki!" Iruka announced.

"Sweet! Time for the new Team Awesome to rise!" Mikey cheered.

"Couldn't have picked better teammates, right, Donnie?" April asked the smart turtle.

"Right! The two of us will make an excellent team!" Donnie agreed just before he noticed Mikey making kissy faces at him and pushed him away. "And then there's Mikey."

"Aw, man! Who's gonna be on my team then?!" Naruto questioned aloud.

As if to answer his question, Iruka announced, "Squad 7 – Naruto Uzumaki! Sakura Haruno!"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered.

"I'm doomed," Sakura sulked while she hung her head.

"And Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka finished.

"Yay!" Sakura cheered.

Now Naruto hung his head. "I'm doomed."

The Hyuga princess glanced at her love interest, feeling disappointed. "I won't be on a team with Naruto then."

"Squad 8 – Hinata Hyuga! Kiba Inuzuka! And Shino Aburame! Squad 10 – Ino Yamanaka! Shikamaru Nara! And Choji Akimichi! Those are all the squads," Iruka finished announcing the teams. "After lunch you'll meet your Jonins. Until then, class dismissed."

After the students went for lunch, they all came back and sat in their seats with their new teammates; everyone waited patiently as they wondered who was supposed to be their Jonin.

"So guys, who do you think your Jonin's going to be?" April asked Squad 5.

"Who knows? Best case scenario, someone like Splinter," Raph mused.

"Worst case Scenario, someone like Shredder," Karai put in.

"Well, this Jonin is supposed to be an elite ninja," Leo said. "So they'll have to be disciplined, experienced, and incredibly strong. I bet we'll see all of that once they walk right through the door." Suddenly, something smashed through the window and threw four kunai knives at the wall; tied to the end of the knives was a big banner that said, 'Congrats, Squad 5!' Standing in front of the sign was a fairly tall woman with a slender frame, light brown pupil-less eyes, and violet-colored hair that was in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh body suit that went from her neck down to her thighs, a tan overcoat with purple in-seam and a pocket on each side of the coat, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, pale grey shin guards, the hidden leaf forehead protector, and a small pendant resembling a snake fang. Anko Mitarashi smirked at the Genins, who were staring at her strangely. "Or… the window in this case."

"Don't we know that lady?" April asked.

"Yeah, we met her years ago. Not long after we just got to this village," Karai recalled. "Ms. Wicked."

"You mean creepy," Raph remarked.

Anko glanced around the classroom. "So these are this year's new Genins," she said as she walked back and forth. "I bet you all think you're full-fledged ninja now, huh? Feeling pretty full of yourselves for getting this far. Well, you're wrong! To me, you're just rookies, and that's what we Jonins are here for: to see if you beginners have what it takes to be real ninja, 'cause we don't have time for wannabes." She then stopped right in front of her banner. "Now, which of you brats are from Squad 5?" Leo, Karai and Raph stood up. "Let's go, kiddies!" The two brothers followed their new Sensei outside while Karai stayed behind.

"Too bad we weren't put on the same team, broody, but let me give you some advice," Karai said to her fellow Uchiha. "Don't underestimate your teammates, especially whiskers; he may surprise you." Sasuke looked at the Foot princess as she left after her squad.

"Wow! Didn't expect that woman to be a Jonin," Donnie stated.

"Do you think they'll be ok with her?" April asked.

"No worries, April, those guys are toughest ninjas you'll ever meet. They can handle anything," Mikey assured her.

The next Jonin to enter the classroom was a young woman with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, warm brown eyes, and a shade of red lipstick. She wore the usual Jonin uniform aside from the sword strapped to her back. "Squad 6!" she called out. April, Donnie, and Mikey stood up. "Meet me outside." April and Donnie were soon led outside the classroom by their Jonin.

"Later, dudes!" Mikey said to his friends before leaving to catch up with his team.

* * *

Anko led her new squad to the top of the Dango shop, where she treated all of them; the four shinobi sat on the roof with the three genins sitting together as they watched their new leader munch on her sweets in front of them. "Uh, Sensei, why are we on top of the Dango shop?" Leo inquired.

"First off, don't call me Sensei. It's Lady Anko or Miss Anko to you!" Anko corrected. "And second, we're here to learn a few things about each other. Since you brats are gonna be my new underlings, I want to see if you're worth my time."

"Listen lady, we're not underlings! We're real ninjas, and you're just supposed to help us get better!" Raph protested.

Anko chomped down on another dango and tossed the stick to the side. "However way you look at it, I'm the boss here, so you have to do what I say!" Anko declared, making Raph growl. "Now, I want you kids to tell me a little about yourselves: your name, likes and dislikes, your hobbies, and your goals for the future. Let's start with the big mouth here!" She pointed to the brute, who glared at her before going first.

"Name's Raphael Senju, I like training, learning new ninja skills, and using those ninja skills to pound my enemies into the ground! I dislike goofing off, taking things slow, people telling me that I have a hot temper, my brother's pranks, and… bugs, especially cockroaches! My hobbies are sparring or hanging out with my brothers, winning against my brothers, and feeding my pets. My goal for the future is to be the strongest ninja so that I can beat up anyone who tries to mess with my family!"

"Not bad, green eyes," Anko said before pointing to the Hamato head. "You're up, blue."

Leo nodded as he stood up. "My name is Leonardo Hyuga. I like training to perfect my ninjutsu and being a good leader. I dislike failing as a leader, being unfocused, and when my brothers, especially Raph, argue with me. My hobbies are mediating and perfecting my skills. My goal for the future is to become the best leader so that I can live up to my father's expectations and lead our clan in his place like he entrusted me to."

"You've got a tough head on your shoulders, kid," Anko stated as Leo sat back down. "Alright red lips, your turn!"

Karai stood up and spoke. "My name's Karai Uchiha. I like fighting and other things. I don't like a lot of things. I don't really have any hobbies, but I need one. And my goal… is to restore a clan whose reputation has been tarnished by the actions of others. I'm going to rebuild it from the ground up and make it stronger and better than ever."

Anko nodded. "Quite the noble goal, wanting to restore the damaged Uchiha clan, kid." She didn't notice Raph and Leo glancing at each other as they knew that Karai had been referring to the Foot clan rather than the Uchiha clan. "Alright kiddies, eat up! And then head home, 'cause tomorrow we'll be doing a little training exercise!" she announced before wolfing down another dango.

"What kind of training?" Leo asked.

"Before we become an official team, I need to see what you got. So meet me at 4:00 tomorrow morning and we'll head over to the training grounds for a survival test! Now get going!" she ordered before she vanished from their sight.

* * *

Elsewhere, the purple-haired Jonin took her new students to the Hokage monument where they sat at the top of the fourth lord's head. "Ok students, my name's Yūgao Uzuki and before we do anything else, I want all of you to tell me a little about yourselves. What are your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and goals for the future? So who wants to go first?" she asked. Mikey raised his hand anxiously and she pointed to him. "You seem eager to share, go right ahead." Mikey stood up and gave a big smile as he spoke. "Name's Michelangelo Akimichi! I like—no, _love_ —pizza! Comic books! Kittens, ice cream, kittens made of ice cream! I don't like it when my brothers make fun of me, not being taken serious, jerks or bullies, and anything against the glory of pizza. My hobbies are making pizza, eating pizza, playing games, skateboarding, and hanging with my bros. My goals are to create a pizza shop in this place and introduce the glory of pizza to the world!" Yūgao smiled at Michelangelo's innocence _. "He's so adorable, even though I didn't understand most of what he just said; but at least he dreams big,"_ she thought. She then gestured to the purple-haired Nara. "Your turn." Donnie stood up and introduced himself. "My name is Donatello Nara. I like tinkering, learning new things, and working in my lab. I don't like my brothers disturbing me when I'm working, being asked questions I obviously can't answer, and not being the smart one. My hobbies are conducting experiments, buildings things that sometimes don't work right, and making weapons. My goal is to be the smartest ninja ever and to upgrade ninja weapons to the fullest extent possible." " _This kid's pretty intriguing. That big brain of his could take him far,"_ Yūgao thought before she turned to April. "And last but not least, you, miss." April nodded as she stood up and said, "My name is April Uzumaki. I like studying, hanging out with friends, and being a Kunoichi. I don't like being underestimated or being a failure. My hobbies are reading, and training to improve my ninja skills. My goal to become a strong Kunoichi, so that I'll never be powerless and that I won't always have to rely on other to save me." She held up her fist as she put on a serious face. Yūgao raised an eyebrow at the psychic ninja. _"She's got some fire in her eyes. I like it."_ She then stood up. "You all have interesting goals, so let's see if they're enough to drive you! Tomorrow afternoon, the three of you will take a training mission to see how much you've learned since your academy days. Be prepared to give it your all." Yūgao then faded into a swirl of leaves. "She seemed nice," April noted. "I think she's pretty awesome,' Mikey commented. "I wonder what kind of training she'll have us do tomorrow," Donnie pondered. "Who knows, but we'd better rest up, we'll need our strength for tomorrow," April advised. The three genins then left to their homes for the day.

* * *

The next morning, Karai, Leonardo, and Raphael came to Konoha's 3rd training ground, where their new Sensei was waiting for them. Anko was leaning against the center stump while munching a few sticks of Dango when she noticed her trainees approaching. "Hey kids, you're right on time. I like that, 'cause the ninja world doesn't put up with slackers," she said as she chomped off another dango and tossed the stick into the stump on her right. "Uh, isn't it too early for sweets, Lady Anko?" Leo questioned. The Jonin ignored her student as she stepped away from the stump and brought out two tiny bells on strings and a small alarm clock. "Alright newbies, here's the deal! If you wanna be an official ninja team, you've got to do one thing: take at least one of these bells from me! Each bell is for one genin, and since there are two bells, that means one of you will fail the exercise. The question is… who's it gonna be?" Anko explained as she dangled the bells before her students. "Oh, and no sharing the bells, you have to get them individually." "What happens to the one who fails the exercise?" Karai inquired. Anko smiled at that question. "The failure will not only miss out on breakfast, but they will be sent back to the academy." "WHAT?!" the genins yelled. "Sorry kids, but the ninja world is harsh. If you can't survive it, then you're not meant to be a ninja," Anko said before attaching the bells to her belt; she then set the alarm clock and placed it on the stump. "I've set the clock for two hours, so that's how long you'll have to take the bells from me. Now the rules: you can use weapons, techniques, or whatever means necessary to get the bells, and if you don't come at me with everything you have, you'll never stand a chance, which means… you'd better come at me like you mean to kill." Her face was so serious that it sent a chill down the NY ninjas' spine. "Oh, and one more thing, once you're defeated, you'll be tied to one of the stumps. Now, you all clear of the rules?" Her students nodded in reply. "Good. That being said… not a single one of you is capable of taking these bells from me!" "Hey! Don't underestimate us, lady! We're pretty top notch ninja!" Raph argued. "Hmm, talk is for pretenders and I'm judging from what I see, which is just a bunch of pipsqueaks trying to bite off more than they can chew," Anko retorted while waving her hand nonchalantly. "Just admit that you guys can't complete the exercise and go back to the academy where you belong, then you can try next year with a weaker Jonin as your teacher." Raphael growled at the squad leader and in a flash, he jumped toward her with his fist ready. Anko just smiled and in the next second, the brute was flat on his stomach with her foot on his back. "Whoa, she's fast! I didn't even see her move," Karai said. "You'd have to be at Jonin level to be that fast," Leo stated. " _Err, I thought only Splinter could move that fast,"_ Raph thought. _"Guess she's not going to make it easy for me."_ "You're too anxious and angry, so that makes it easy for me to predict your moves," Anko stated. "Although you came at me with everything, so you got the right idea, kid." She released Raphael, allowing him to stand up. "Alright, your time starts now!" The moment she said that, the three genins disappeared from her sight; the Jonin then sat beside the stumps and continued eating Dango. After ten minutes of waiting, she called out, "It's already been ten minutes, kids! What's the hold up? Don't tell me you've already given up!" "In your dreams, lady!" Raphael shouted as he jumped out of the bushes. Anko simply shook her head. "Not very stealthy, revealing yourself like that. And you say you're a ninja," she chastised him. "I am a ninja! And I'm taking those bells from you!" Raph declared before he charged at the Jonin; he threw multiple punches which she blocked without standing up. Raph then backed away and brought his twin sais as Anko got to her feet. Raph jabbed his weapons at the squad leader but she easily dodged his attacks. "Taijutsu, which is training your body for hand-to-hand combat," Anko stated. "You're not doing too bad, kid." She then pulled out a kunai knife and stabbed him with it. "But it's still not good enough." Raph then smiled just before he faded into the air. "Huh? A clone?" The real Raphael jumped out from behind the Jonin and tackled her, placing his sai at her throat. "How's that for stealthy?! Now I'll be taking those bells!" he said as he reached for the bells on Anko's belt. He was then surprised when his teacher suddenly turned into a piece of wood. "A Substitution Jutsu?!" He was then caught off guard and kicked in the chest by his Jonin; he bounced across the floor before getting back on his feet and glaring at Anko. "Nice try kid, but I can easily recognize a clone," Anko said. "You'll have to try harder than that to win!" "No problem!" Raph declared as he made a 'T' with his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five more Raphaels appeared on the training ground, each with their own pair of sais. "Shadow Clones, huh? You'd have to be pretty skilled if you can use an A-rank Jutsu at this age," Anko mused. "I'm impressed." "Now this is my idea of a perfect team," Raph said. "Those bells are as good as mine!" The 6 brutes rushed at the squad leader, yet Anko dodged and blocked all of their assaults. She grabbed one of the clones and chopped him in the neck, causing him to disappear. Two more tried to stab her in the back but Anko backflipped over them and used her left leg to knock them off their feet; she then stomped on one's stomach while punching the other in the chest, and both disappeared in a puff of smoke. Another one yelled as he jumped to attack her. Anko countered by kicking the Raph clone in gut, making him disappear as well. Anko smirked as she turned to face the last two Rapheals. "And then there were two. Ready to call it quits, tough guy?" "Not gonna happen!" the two Raphs said as they charged at the Jonin. Anko still blocked their assaults before kicking one of them in the head. The last clone disappeared and Anko looked at Raphael, who was glaring at the Jonin. "Looks like it's just me and you, angry boy!" Anko taunted. "And in a few minutes, it'll be you… tied to that stump!" Raph said back. "We'll see, now won't we?!" Anko asked. The Red Stripe roared at his teacher and rushed at her again. Anko threw multiple shurikens at the brute but he deflected them by rotating one of his sais. She then brought out a kunai and used it to block Raph's blows; she then knocked one of his sais out of his hand. Eventually, Raph tried his signature hold by placing his sai around her wrist and pulled her over his shoulder to slam her on the ground. Anko just smirked as she flexed her body so that she'd land on her feet. Raph was too stunned by her move that he didn't react to Anko wrapping snakes around his wrist and binding him; the Jonin then tossed the Red Stripe, who went sliding into the left stump. Before he could recover, ropes suddenly appeared and were wrapped around him and the stump, binding him to it. "Looks like you've lost, kid! Not much of a top notch ninja!" She then grabbed his mask and yanked it off his face. "I'll just hang on to this till you actually pass, which you won't!" "Rrrr! When I get out of this, I'll take those bells and I'll show you what a ninja like me can really do!" Raph promised. "Sure you will kid, sure." Anko denied before calling out, "ONE DOWN, KIDDIES! YOU'VE ONLY GOT AN HOUR AND A HALF LEFT, SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! DON'T YOU GUYS WANNA BECOME ACTUAL NINJA?!" Just then, Leonardo came out and tried to strike her with his sword from behind; Anko just blocked it with her kunai and Leo landed in front of her. "So, you're next, eh, blue eyes?" "That's right! And I don't plan on holding back!" Leo declared as he brought out his second sword. He swung his blades continuously at his new Sensei but she easily evaded his strikes; she then grabbed one of his wrists and flipped him over her shoulder while swiping one of his swords from his hand. "Nice blade; strong, light, and well balanced, and you can wield two of them at once. You've got some skills, kid," Anko commented. "Oh, you haven't seen half of what I can do!" Leo replied. He charged at her and swung his sword again, but Anko blocked his strike with the sword she swiped from him. Leo then backed away and sheathed his weapon. He then placed his hands together as he focused his chakra into them; his hands started glowing as the veins around his eyes became visible and he took a stance. "Ah, the Gentle Fist. Planning on blocking my chakra points, eh?" Anko observed. "Pretty clever, but that won't work unless ya manage to hit me, kid, and that's not going to happen!" "Won't be sure until I try!" Leo countered as he rushed at the Jonin. He thrust his hand forward but missed as Anko dodged his attack; he tried again and his squad leader deflected his blow. Every strike Leonardo gave was either dodged or blocked. Anko then grabbed both of the Hamato leader's wrists before kicking him in the gut and tossing him aside. "Told ya, kid, not gonna beat me that way," Anko said smugly. Leo growled at her before he started rapidly weaving hand signs. "Lightning Style: Laser Circuit!" he exclaimed as he put his hands together and fired numerous laser strikes at the Jonin. Anko backflipped, avoiding each blast that came at her. "Ninjutsu, the art of elemental weaponry. Not bad, blue, but you'll have to do better," Anko told him. "Then how about this?!" Leo asked as he jumped above Anko and weaved more hand signs. "Wind Style: Whirlwind Fist!" Leo pulled his right fist back as small revolving blades of wind formed around it; he swung with all his might and the impact of the Jutsu made a small dent in the ground and a wall of dust. Leonardo looked around but couldn't find his sensei anywhere. _"Where'd she go?! I can't even pick her up with my Byakugan!"_ he thought. He then heard a cracking sound by his feet and looked down; the ground cracked just before Anko's right hand shot out from underground and grabbed Leonardo's face. Two snakes suddenly slithered out from Anko's sleeve and wrapped themselves around Leo's body. "None can escape the Striking Snake technique," Anko stated before swinging the Hamato swordsman toward the center stump. Leo slammed into the stump and was soon tied to it like his brother; he then looked up to see Anko holding both his and Raphael's mask in her hand. "That's two down and one to go," Anko said. "Alright sweetie, you're the last one! Only an hour left, what are you gonna do about it?!" "Hyah!" Karai yelled as she jumped out from her hiding spot and launched herself at the Jonin; she pulled out her sword and swung it. Anko just blocked the strike with Leo's sword and the two were soon engaged in a sword fight. Karai then threw multiple shurikens at her squad leader but they were all deflected. Karai then weaved signs and took a deep breath. "Fire Style: Blazing Serpent Jutsu!" She released a fiery limbless reptile from her mouth and sent it at her sensei; Anko smirked before she jumped over the fire snake as it scorched the ground. She did a handstand on Karai's head as she looked her in the eye and held two fingers to her face. Karai backed away from her mentor and threw her sword at her; Anko made no attempt to evade the blade and was impaled in the stomach. Karai gasped in shock until Anko just smiled before her body dissolved into numerous serpents. _"This is… genjutsu!"_ she thought. The many snakes suddenly wrapped themselves around Miwa's body and held her up high; a giant snake towered over her and opened its jaw wide. Karai cut herself free and jumped onto the serpent's head before stabbing it with her blade, killing it instantly. It collapsed on the floor and the foot Kunoichi jumped off it. Another giant limbless reptile suddenly burst out of the ground, nearly swallowing Karai whole, but Splinter's daughter used her blade to hold its mouth open before she burned its insides with a fireball jutsu. The snake hissed before falling to the ground, dead. Three more serpents sprung from the earth and surrounded the Uchiha girl. Karai held her sword out before tossing shurikens at the first snake, using a fire style jutsu on the second one, and then charging at the third one with her sword. In the real world, Karai dropped her sword and fell to her knees while her Jonin was standing in front of her holding up two fingers. "Genjutsu, the art of illusions," she said as she picked up her student and carried her over to the free stump; she tied the foot princess before removing her face mask in triumph. "Well, that was a fun warm-up. You kids have some skill, but you're not even close to my league," she said before glancing at her belt. "Only thirty minutes left and I still have the bells, but since you three are tied up, I'd say the test is over for you." "There's still some time left! We can still pass!" Leo argued. "I doubt that," Anko retorted. "Just you wait, lady, I'm gonna get out of here and then I'm gonna hit you with everything I've got and swipe those bells from right under your nose!" Raph promised. "Give it up, kid. Even if you could escape from that stump, like I said before, not a single one of you is capable of taking these bells from me," Anko said before making the 'ko' sign and disappearing into a swirl of leaves. Leo then pulled out a shuriken from the bandage on his left hand and tossed it to Raph's stump; the brute started using it to cut his ropes while his brother brought out a knife from the bandage on his right hand and started cutting his ropes. Once they were free, the brothers cut their comrade's ropes and placed her on the ground. Leonardo held up two fingers before placing his hand on Karai's shoulder and announcing, "Kai, release!" Karai's eyes grew wide as she was snapped out of the snake Jonin's illusion.

"What happened?" she questioned.

"In short, we got schooled," Leo replied.

"Yeah, well now I'm going to teach Lady Sensei a lesson!" Raph said as he pulled out his sais and started to run off, but Leonardo quickly grabbed his shirt before he got far.

"Hold on, Raph, we can't just go charging at Lady Anko again!" Leo advised. "If we want to pass, we need to come up with a plan first!"

"We? I think you're confusing this for the team you used to lead back in New York!" Raphael retorted. "Well, wake up, bro! This is a different team with a different teacher in charge; you're not the leader anymore!"

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean I can't help us pass this test!" Leo argued. "We all went up against Anko and didn't do so well on our own; we'll only have a chance if we work together."

"Leo, are you forgetting something? This is supposed to be a test for us individually; we're not allowed to fight as a team," Karai reminded him.

"True, but remember what she said: 'not a single one of us could pass this test.' What if she meant that literally? That we can't get those bells on our own?" Leo inquired.

"I don't know, Leo, seems pretty risky to me. She could fail all three of us for this," Karai said.

"Or she could pass all three of us once we get those bells," Leo suggested.

Raph and Karai glanced at each other before looking back at Leo. "Ok bro, let's say this works and we get the bells. There are only two of them; one of us will still fail after she sees two of us have taken the bells from her," Raph said.

"Not if she doesn't see which of us took the bells," Leo replied. "As long as we show her that the three of us have the bells, she won't know who grabbed them first."

"I'm still not sure about this, bro," Raph said skeptically.

"What have we got to lose at this point?" Leo asked.

"Leo's right, this is our best chance to pass right now!" Karai agreed. "Now all we need is a plan."

"The plan is for us to restrain her legs to stop her from evading us, block her arms so she can't defend or counterattack, and cover her eyes so that she won't see who took the bells. I'll give you the details later," Leo answered; he then weaved hand signs as veins came around his eyes. "Byakugan!" His ocular vision scanned the area until he found his sensei resting by a tree and eating dango. "I've spotted her, this way!" The three genins hurried through the trees until they were close to their Jonin's location; Leo quickly gave the rundown of his plan to steal from Anko.

"Heh! Only you would come up with a plan like that, bro," Raph remarked.

"What can I say? I may not be the leader, but my strategic and leadership skills are at their best," Leo responded.

"Are we ready to do this?" Karai questioned. The three ninjas from NY put their hands together and shouted, "BOOYAKASHA!"

Anko looked over to her right when she heard someone shout from the bushes, and Raphael jumped out and rushed at her while twirling his Sais. Anko sighed before she chomped down on her last dango stick and picked up the sword she took from Leonardo. She blocked Raph's attack as he repeatedly swung his weapons at her. "So you managed to escape, huh? You're stubborn and you got guts, I like that in a ninja!" Anko said. "But you're still not gonna be one since you can't pass this test!"

"Wanna bet?!" Raph countered as he leaped away from the Jonin and put his Sai hilts together behind his back; Leonardo jumped onto the Sai hilts and leaped over his brother. He raised his sword above his head and then brought it down as he descended on the snake Kunoichi. Anko blocked his strike before he started swinging his blade wildly. Anko deflected all of his swings and Leo aimed the point of his sword at her chest; Anko tried to dodge but found that she could not move from her spot. She looked down to see Raphael's sais placed in the dirt right above her feet, pinning her in place. She hissed before instinctively turning her blade horizontally to block Leo's attack; she then felt a sharp pain in her stomach and looked down again. Leonardo had two fingers emitting chakra jabbing her abdomen.

" _Gentle Fist, he blocked my chakra points. Looks like I won't be casting any Jutsu for a while,"_ she thought before smirking. _"Not that I need any to school these brats!"_ To prove her point, she punched Leonardo square in the jaw, sending him flying backward. The leader in blue quickly backflipped and landed on his feet just as Hamato Miwa dashed past him toward their teacher. She swung her blade at Anko who pulled out a kunai to block her sword; soon, Karai and Leo were in a sword battle against Anko while she was still incapable of moving to dodge. Eventually, Leo and Karai clashed their blades with Anko's and pushed against her.

"Goongala!" Raph shouted as he jumped onto the Jonin's back; she tried to shake him off but he stayed on and placed his hands over her eyes. Leo and Karai continued to slash at their teacher, who still managed to block their strikes despite not being able to see. After the final strike, numerous snakes came out of her sleeves and wrapped around the Hamato ninjas. Anko smiled wickedly before slamming her students together and then tossing them aside. She then bashed the back of her head against Raphael's face, making him groan in pain. Anko then stuck her tongue out and it extended to the point where it wrapped around the Red Stripe's right ankle. Raph looked at her tongue in shock just before he was pulled off of Anko's back and slammed into his comrades.

"You brats make a pretty formidable team, but even the three of you still can't get the job done!" Anko stated.

The three genins stood up and faced their teacher. "Are you sure about that?" Karai asked.

Anko's eyes grew wide before she glanced down at her belt; she was surprised to see that the pair of bells she was protecting had disappeared. "It can't be…" she muttered before looking over at her squad. Karai, Leo, and Raph were smirking as they held out the bells for their mentor to see; their hands were intertwined as the bells dangled from the strings they were holding together. Anko glared at the NY ninjas before she calmed down and smirked. "Nice work, kiddies, you even managed to the jump on me. I have to admit, I'm impressed," she admitted. "However, I told you that only two of you would pass, and that was if you managed to get the bells individually. Now I know for a fact that the three of you couldn't have grabbed two bells when you did, which means that one of you doesn't get to pass. So, just tell me who's the failure among you and you won't all go back to the academy."

"That doesn't matter! What matters is that we got the bells… as a team!" Leo declared.

Anko shook her head. "That's not how this works! This is to see how skilled you are alone; if you decide to team up, it only proves that you're inadequate ninjas! Do you really want to accept that?" she inquired.

"Maybe we aren't the best ninja on our own compared to you or other Jonin, but together we're the A-team, and no one can beat us when we work together!" Raph said.

"So you can forget about any of us selling the others out! You'll just have to send all of us back to the academy!" Karai added.

"Or… I could just cut off your hands," Anko suggested. "That way, when the bells fall, I'll get to see who was holding on to them or the first person to grab them will get to pass." The Jonin pointed Leo's sword at the Genins. "Last chance, tell me who failed or sacrifice your hands!"

"We're not abandoning our teammates, so just go ahead and do it!" Leo said.

"Alright then, you made your choice," Anko said before she started walking toward her pupils; she licked the blade before scraping it across the ground. The students of the Sage of Six Paths quaked as their teacher got closer but they stuck together and kept hold of the bells. Anko stood before her students and grinned evilly as she slowly raised the sword. The ninjas of the Hamato clan closed their eyes as they waited for the painful strike; instead, they heard the sound of metal hitting them ground and felt something wrap around them. They opened their eyes to see Anko embracing them. "Congratulations kiddies, you pass!" she declared before she released them and stepped back. The genins looked at her in confusion while she held out their masks for them to take. "I think you'll want these back."

The Genins took their masks while still looking pretty baffled. "Uh, I'm glad that we passed, but why do we pass?" Leo asked.

"Because you brats managed to get the bells from your teacher… as a team," Anko answered.

"But you said that we were supposed to swipe the bells individually," Raph stated.

"That was just a logical deception so that you would give it your all and so that I could see where your skills lie," Anko explained. "I told you that not a _single_ one of you would get these bells from me, which was to get you to realize that you needed each other to get the job done."

" _Guess Leo was right about that,"_ Karai thought before she asked, "But what about one of us going to fail since there were only two bells?"

"That was the real test. Since there were only two bells, that meant two of you would have to abandon one of your comrades in order to achieve success; whoever didn't get a bell was the one who got left behind," Anko smiled at her students as she continued explaining. "But you guys stuck together; even when all of you were at the risk of failing, you didn't abandon each other. In a Shinobi world, those who fail their missions are lower than trash, but those who abandon their comrades are considered lower than that! You had to decide what was more important to you, your friends or the test." She petted all of their heads with pride. "Always treasure your comrades and never abandon them, that's what makes a real ninja strong. And as of right now, Squad 5 is an official ninja team!"

The three Genins of the Hamato clan smiled as they put their masks back on and cheered. "BOOYAKASHA!"

"Alright brats, now it's time to celebrate! We'll head over to the dango shop and enjoy ourselves, but first we need to do something very important! Follow your Sensei!" Anko ordered cheerfully as she walked off with her squad following close behind.

"Doesn't she ever get tired of that dango stuff?" Karai wondered.

"I think she'll be a full-on glutton before she realizes that too much of that stuff is unhealthy," Leo replied.

* * *

Seven hours later, Squad Six had come to Konoha's third training ground, where their Jonin gave the same instructions that Squads 5 and 7 got from theirs. Yūgao Uzuki presented the two bells to the genins and challenged them to take them individually. When the test began, Michelangelo was the first to attempt to take the bells alone, but ended up being defeated quickly. Donatello came up with a strategy to swipe the bells and ended getting caught and tied to the center stump. April then charged at her Jonin but found that her own skills paled in comparison to Yūgao's. During the test, she came to a realization and spoke to her teammate Mikey; she convinced him to aid her in passing the test and told him of the plan she had to get the bells from their teacher. After he was filled in, the two Genins charged at their master. The goofball swung his nunchucks at the purple-haired Kunoichi, who easily evaded the strikes before kicking the young turtle away.

April then pulled out her tontou and tried to jab the Black Ops ninja, who countered the strike with her own sword; the two Kunoichi swung their blades at each other before the Jonin disarmed the Uzumaki girl and sent her hurling toward Michelangelo Akimichi. The two Genins got to their feet, glanced at each other and nodded before Mikey pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at the ground, surrounding him and April in a wall of purple smoke. After a few seconds, the two shouted, "BOOYAKABUNGA!" as they jumped out of the smoke and charged at their sensei. They attacked their teacher relentlessly but Yūgao Uzuki deflected every strike they gave. Mikey then made a move for the bells but his wrist was grabbed by Yūgao and he was tossed away. However, as he bounced across the ground, he threw the chain from his nunchucks toward the Jonin. The chain was wrapped Yūgao's right wrist, restraining it. April then pulled out her tessen and continued her assault while Yūgao continued to defend herself with one arm. When April got close to the bells, the Jonin reacted by kicking her in the chin, causing her to flip backward. She landed on Mikey's shoulders just as he used his second nunchuck chain to restrain Yūgao's left ankle before crossing chains. April jumped onto the chains and flipped over her sensei, which confused her until she realized where the young Uzumaki was going.

Yūgao looked back to see April running toward her tied-up teammate. She threw her katanna at the redhead who blocked it with her tontou before tossing her razor fan toward Donnie. Yūgao quickly cut the chains around her wrist and ankle and threw a shuriken that crashed into the tessen, changing its course and making it land a foot away from the smart turtle. The fan suddenly burst into a puff of smoke, revealing another April Uzumaki just as the one who threw the fan turned into smoke to show that she was a shadow clone. _"I see, those two weren't trying to get the bells. They just need to keep my focus off their true objective, freeing their comrade,"_ Yūgao thought. _"Pretty clever, especially with that shadow clone and transformation tactic; she must've done under the cover of the smoke from earlier."_

April cut her fellow genin free and Donnie quickly picked up his bo staff. "Thanks, April," he said gratefully. "So you gotta plan for those bells?"

"I got a plan, alright! Just follow my lead!" April instructed as she rushed at her Jonin with Donatello right behind her. Yūgao retrieved her sword as she prepared to face the two students coming at her front and the third coming at her back. She backflipped over Michelangelo and kicked him into April. Donnie brought out the blade in his stick and tried to jab the Jonin multiple times. The Black Ops ninja blocked his strikes before taking a step back; April then jumped over her Nara comrade and started weaving signs. **"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"** she exclaimed as she took in a deep breath and let out a gust of wind. Yūgao crossed her arms to defend herself from the attack; when it passed, she managed to catch a glimpse of someone running toward her very fast: Mikey, who was weaving signs.

" **Expansion Jutsu: Human Juggernaut!"** he shouted as he body grew into a round sphere-like shape; his arms, legs, and head disappeared and he started rolling along the ground like a boulder. Yūgao moved to the side, avoiding the rolling genin, but Mikey quickly swerved and turned around, aiming for his sensei again. The Jonin continuously dodged all of her student's attempts to run her over, and as a result, a large dust cloud formed around the older Kunoichi. Mikey started rolling in a circle around Yūgao, preventing her seeing anything except the ground beneath her. She readied her weapon as she glanced at the ground; her eyes grew wide as she spotted a black shadow line slithering toward her shadow. She quickly stuck her sword into the ground and landed on it, doing a handstand on the hilt before pushing off, making it leave the ground. She then stood on the hilt on her feet and jumped out of the dust. When she did, she spotted Donnie manipulating the shadow to return, but what caught her attention was April making a picture frame with her fingers and aiming it at the Jonin. **"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"** was last the elite Kunoichi heard the Uzumaki shout before her world went black.

After a few minutes, the Jonin woke up on her feet; she looked over to see her genins standing together. She noticed that April looked a little different from before, namely the piercing red eyes with slit pupils and the six whiskers on her face; a second later, April's face had returned to its original appearance. Yūgao then immediately checked her hip where the bells were supposed to be and found that they were gone. She looked to her students and smiled as she put her sword away. "Excellent work, students, you managed to get the bells from me by working together," she praised the genins. "Unfortunately, one of you is meant to fail since there were only two bells. So, who's got the bells?" Each rookie ninja held out their hands to show that none of them had any of the bells in possession. "Seriously kids, where are the bells?"

"We know you said that one of us had to fail, but we just couldn't make that sacrifice so easily. So we hid the bells," April answered before stepping forward. "But if you must send someone back to the academy, make it me. It was my idea to hide the bells and I'm sure you'd have better use for Donnie and Mikey's skills."

Donatello then stood beside her. "No April, it was your plan that allowed us to get the bells in the first place, otherwise none of us would've passed. Besides, I'm the one who ended up tied to the stump, so if anyone should fail, it should be me!" he argued.

"No way! I should be the one to fail!" Mikey declared, getting his teammates to look at him questionably. "I don't really have a reason, but if I have to go back to the academy for you guys, it's no big deal."

"So, none of you wish to let your teammates take the fall? Then I guess there's only thing I can do about that," Yūgao said, making her genins gulp nervously. "Congratulations, the three of you pass the survival test. From this moment forward, you three are my Squad 6!"

After teaching her new students the true meaning of the survival exercise, Yūgao Uzuki took her students for the team photo. Later that evening, the Hamato Clan agreed to meet up at the Ramen Shop to celebrate with their fellow shinobi, Naruto Uzumaki. While April was on her way to meet up with her family, she took a different turn and wandered into the woods of Konoha. When she was far enough and at a small ruined hut, she sat in a meditative position and closed her eyes, slowly entering her mindscape.

* * *

Inside April's consciousness, the Psychic genin wandered through her chakra pool until she came up to a large caged door; behind the bars was a giant fox with dark fur and nine tails. This was her Biju: the Yin Kyuubi. The Nine Tails opened his eyes lazily but did not move from his resting position. "Hello Dragon girl, to what do I owe this visit?" the fox inquired calmly.

"I came to tell you that I passed my survival exam! I'm a full-on shinobi and I'm part of a squad!" April announced.

"I knew this already, girl. I can see a lot of what goes on in your mind," Kyuubi reminded her.

"I know, I know. I just wanted to try and talk with you, have a decent conversation and maybe…" April started to say.

"Maybe we could get to know each other?" the Tailed Beast finished, knowing what she was going to say.

"Well, it has been six years since we were together; I just want us to learn to trust each other. To be friends," April admitted.

"Believe me, Dragon girl, I'm fully aware of how long we've shared each other's company… and I'll never forget that day," Nine Tails stated.

"Neither will I…" April agreed.

 _Flashback – After a year of living in Konoha, April O'Neil/April Uzumaki was starting to enjoy her life here. At this time, she was currently on her way to meet up with her friends when she passed by the woods and sensed a strong presence. Being the curious girl she was, she wandered into the woods. April followed the presence until it led her to an old abandoned home that was completely ruined. As she stepped closer to it, a large summoning seal appeared on the ground and started to emit light._

 _April shielded her eyes as a giant creature with white spiky hair, pale skin, fangs, and a blade in its mouth, wearing a long white robe and holding a bead necklace in its right hand, appeared. April stared at the Shinigami in complete fear as she sensed the numerous souls and endless lost emotions from it. The necklace then wrapped around the reaper's right arm and black marking appeared on it; the Reaper then glanced toward the young Uzumaki with its pupil-less eyes as it raised its right hand. Faster than the child could react, the death god's tattooed hand struck her stomach, phasing right through it. April gasped as the sensation felt like her soul was literally being grabbed by the reaper's hand; then it changed as though another was being fused into it. This second soul's life force was almost overwhelming, so much that she wasn't sure if her body could handle such a presence. The black marks then left the Reaper's right arm and appeared on April's abdomen in the form of a black swirl._

 _The Shinigami then let out a moaning noise before it removed its hand and disappeared. April suddenly fell unconscious just as the Third Hokage appeared at the ruined house with a battalion of Jonins and noticed the eight trigram seal on her stomach. The Psychic Kunoichi then woke up inside her own mindscape and wandered through it until she came face-to-face with her inner Tailed Beast for the first time. "Greetings, Dragon girl…" Yin Kyuubi greeted her nonchalantly. - Flashback ends._

"I don't know why was placed inside of you, but I have a feeling that old man Hagoromo had something to do with it," Nine Tails mused.

"So do I. Which is why I think we should try to co-exist and cooperate… or try to be friends," April suggested.

The Biju just closed its eyes. "I already told you, girl, I don't trust humans. So before you try befriending me, you gotta prove that you've worthy of being the Nine Tails Jinchuriki," he said.

"I know, or else you'll break the seal, imprison my soul, take over my body, and reunite with your other half," April replied. "You keep saying that, but I don't you have any interest in doing what you say."

The Fox Spirit chuckled lightly. "Oh, and what makes you think I'm not like my other half?" he inquired.

"Because I can sense the same sadness, hurt, and pain he had from you, but not the hatred or murderous intent," April answered. "I know you're a good person and that you just don't want to be betrayed or mistreated by humans again. So I'm not gonna quit till I gain your trust and show you that we can be friends!" The Uzumaki girl turned to leave while saying, "I have to meet up with my friends but we'll talk again sometime soon. Later, Nine Tails!"

As the red-haired genin started walking away, the Kyuubi opened its eyes again and said, "Hey, Dragon girl." April looked back at her Biju companion. "Next time, don't just leave your body soulless so easily. I could end up becoming the dominant soul and you might be behind this cage when you get back." April nodded to the Tailed Beats before leaving her mindscape.

Moments later, April made it to Ramen Ichiraku where the rest of her clan was waiting for her. "Hey April, what took so long?" Donnie greeted his crush.

"Had to go speak with my mutual friend," April muttered.

Understanding what she meant, the Hamato clan put the matter aside. "Well, you're just in time, cuz! Have a seat!" Naruto said. April sat beside her fellow Jinchuriki and ordered a bowl of ramen.

"A toast!" Leonardo announced as he held up his cup of tea, getting his friends attention. "Here's to becoming full-on shinobi, and starting tomorrow we'll be going on real missions, where we'll face many dangers, many other shinobi, and many challenges that'll make us stronger, better, and will help achieve true goals! SO LET'S NEVER GIVE UP TILL THE END! BOOYAKASHA!"

"BOOYAKASHA!" April, Karai, Donnie, Mikey, Raph, and Naruto cheered with their leader before they began chowing down on their ramen.

 _Then the lights came on_

 _Brighter than ever before_

 _Can you see them shine?_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

 _Won't let them fade_

 _This city's meant for much more_

 _Gonna hear us shout_

 _Go ninja go, go ninja_

...

 **A/N: Done, finally! Sorry I took so long; I started to procrastinate and didn't get to this story till recently. Some of you may not like that I shortened Squad 6's survival exam, but after doing Squad 5's, I didn't want to start a whole new test from the beginning 'cause it was getting tiresome. Don't worry, the future chapters will make up for it, I promise. Next chapter will be about the missions Squads 5 and 6 get; hope you're excited about it because I am! Stay tuned, story's only going to get better, especially for April now that she's the Jinchuriki for the Yin Kurama! Her relationship with him isn't buddy-buddy right away, but at least it's better than Naruto and Yang Kurama's. Will she gain his trust and learn his true name? You'll just have to wait and see! Until next time, TTFN AntiHero out!**


End file.
